MEXICO CITY – In a bid to quell anxieties over U.S. interference in Mexican affairs, President Claudia Sheinbaum emphasized that all operations on Mexican territory are strictly conducted by Mexican authorities. Her assurances came during a press briefing on Thursday, addressing growing concerns over national sovereignty.

The President’s remarks follow the recent extradition of a former Olympic snowboarder, Ryan Wedding, who faces drug trafficking charges in the United States. This case has sparked a debate about how law enforcement operations are conducted across borders.

Sheinbaum, alongside U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson, maintained that Canadian national Ryan Wedding, who had been residing in Mexico to evade arrest, voluntarily surrendered at the U.S. embassy last week. This version of events, however, is disputed by Wedding’s legal counsel.

Contradicting this account, FBI Director Kash Patel described the capture of Wedding as part of a “high-risk” joint operation. Patel emphasized that the operation was executed collaboratively with Mexican forces on the ground, highlighting the cross-border cooperation between the two nations.

On the diplomatic front, Sheinbaum and former President Donald Trump engaged in a telephone conversation on Thursday, continuing their discussions on trade and security matters. Notably, the topic of Wedding’s arrest did not feature in their conversation, according to Sheinbaum.

Sheinbaum acknowledged earlier this week that she did not know the details of the arrest and did not want to argue with Patel.

But she addressed the ongoing concerns of U.S. intervention in Mexico.

“We will never accept joint operations by the United States … operations on our territory are carried out by Mexican forces … we always tell President Trump that,” she insisted Thursday after the call.

Instead, Sheinbaum said the leaders spoke about drug trafficking, the border and trade, coming as the Mexican president has sought to defuse mounting threats by Trump of taking military action against cartels.

The controversy surrounding Wedding’s arrest has resurfaced anxieties around how U.S. agencies operate on Mexican territory, especially in the wake of the U.S. military operation in Venezuela earlier this month, which deposed former President Nicolás Maduro. Since, Trump has repeatedly underscored his desire to fight cartels on land, an escalation from the boat attacks carried out in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Sheinbaum has repeatedly said she would not allow unilateral U.S. military intervention in the country over concerns for Mexican sovereignty but has promoted bilateral cooperation between the two neighbors.

The Mexican president said that in this latest conversation Trump did not press for any operations in Mexico, but that they did discuss Mexico’s most recent transfer of dozens of imprisoned cartel members to the U.S., which observers have described as an offering by Sheinbaum’s government.

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