Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum calmed concerns Monday about recent US military activity near Mexico, the AP reports.
On Friday, the US Federal Aviation Administration urged US aircraft operators to "exercise increased caution" when flying over the eastern Pacific Ocean near Mexico, Central America and parts of South America, citing "military activity".
The president said her administration waited several hours for the US government to provide "written" assurance that there would be no US military flights over Mexican territory. She said the U.S. government had not warned Mexico of any military operations. The U.S. government provided precise coordinates for where it was operating, and Mexican authorities issued a statement saying the FAA warning had no implications for Mexico. Photos then began circulating on social media of a U.S. military transport plane on the runway at the Toluca airport, about 63 kilometers west of Mexico City. Senator Clemente Castaneda of the opposition Civic Movement party took to social media to demand an explanation from the government. The Mexican Senate would have to approve sending Mexican troops abroad or allowing foreign troops into Mexico. Sheinbaum described it as a "logistical" an operation that does not require Senate approval.
"A United States aircraft landed, government officials boarded that aircraft and went (to the United States) for training," Sheinbaum said. "Who authorized that? The Secretary of Defense."
Her security office posted on X on Sunday night that such training operations "are conducted in accordance with established protocols and in compliance with bilateral cooperation agreements."
Both events underscored the sensitivities created not only by the Trump administration's unilateral action to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month but also by the subsequent renewal of proposals and threats to take direct military action against drug cartels in Mexico.
Sheinbaum and Trump spoke again last week on the subject. Both governments have continued to say they will cooperate on security issues, with Mexico stressing that it will not tolerate violations of its sovereignty.
Security officials from both countries are scheduled to meet again on Friday to "continue to take tangible actions to strengthen security cooperation and achieve meaningful results in countering cartels and stopping the illicit flow of fentanyl and weapons crossing our shared border," according to a joint statement released last Thursday.