Sheinbaum says Mexico has no proof of alleged Maduro ties to Sinaloa Cartel
The allegations, tying Maduro to Mexico's largest drug cartel and the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang, were recently raised by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
"This is the first time we've heard about this issue. There is no investigation from Mexico related to it," Sheinbaum told reporters. "As we always say, if they have any proof, let them show it. We have no evidence related to that."
US Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday announced the doubling of a reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest, from $25 million to $50 million, calling him 'one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security.'
The US has long accused Maduro of running a 'narco-state' and facilitating cocaine shipments to North America through alliances with transnational criminal organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel. Maduro has denied the allegations, dismissing them as politically motivated. — Agencies
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
8 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Funerals held for journalists killed in Israeli strike on Gaza City
JERUSALEM — An outpouring of grief and condemnation has followed Israel's assassination of prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, including and five other staff members. Crowds have gathered in Gaza to mourn the journalists who were among seven people killed by Israel in a military strike on Gaza late Sunday. The Israeli military said it targeted 28-year-old al-Sharif, alleging he had "served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas", but has produced little evidence to support that claim. Al Jazeera called it a "targeted assassination" and "yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom". The UN condemned the killings as a "grave breach of international humanitarian law", while the Committee to Protect Journalists said 186 journalists have now been killed since the start of Israel's military offensive in Gaza in October 2023. Al Jazeera English's director of news, Salah Negm, has just said the Israeli strike amounted to 'killing the messenger and trying to eliminate any eyewitness to atrocities and genocide.' 'They have been working for two years under very difficult circumstances, risking their lives in order for one thing to happen, to bring the truth about what is happening in Gaza to the outside world,' Negm told CNN's Christina Macfarlane on Connect the World. 'Our correspondents died doing this.' The Israeli government does not allow international news organizations into Gaza to report freely, so many outlets rely on Gaza-based reporters for coverage. The Palestinian group Hamas has decried Israel's assassination of Al Jazeera's journalists in Gaza. In a statement, Hamas described the attack as part of a 'widespread targeting of journalists unprecedented in any war', saying it aimed to silence media coverage in Gaza ahead of 'major crimes' planned against Palestinians in the besieged territory. It called on the United Nations Security Council and the international community to condemn the killings and take immediate action to hold Israeli leaders accountable for what it called war crimes. It added that al-Sharif had been a 'symbol of free journalism', documenting scenes of famine in Gaza and the impact of Israel's crippling siege. The drone attack late on Sunday hit a tent for journalists positioned outside the main gate of Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital, killing seven people. Among the dead were Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal. A sixth journalist, Mohammad al-Khaldi, a local freelance reporter, was also reported killed in the air attack. Reporters Without Borders said three more journalists were wounded in the same strike. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has called on the world to hold Israel to account after the killing of the five Al Jazeera staff. 'A press badge is no shield against genocidal war criminals who fear the world witnessing their atrocities,' said Baghaei, accusing Israel of assassinating the journalists 'in cold blood'. 'Strong condemnation is the bare minimum for any decent human being, but the world must act immediately to stop this harrowing genocide and hold the criminals accountable,' he added. 'Indifference and inaction are complicity in Israel's crimes.' Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, has strongly criticised Israel over the killing of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza, calling it a shocking violation of press freedom. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, offered condolences to 'the Al Jazeera family' and called for an investigation. 'We have always been very clear in condemning all killings of journalists,' Dujarric said. 'In Gaza, and everywhere, media workers should be able to carry out their work freely and without harassment, intimidation or fear of being targeted.' The Israeli strike came less than a year after Israeli army officials first accused al-Sharif and other Al Jazeera journalists of being members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In a 24 July video, Israel's army spokesperson Avichay Adraee criticized the Qatar-based network and accused al-Sharif of being part of Hamas' military wing. Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) raised concerns for his safety, saying he was targeted by "an Israeli military smear campaign.' Al-Sharif has extensively reported on the war in Gaza from inside the Strip amid an ongoing media blackout imposed by Israel. Just hours before the attack on him, al-Sharif had posted on X about Israel's 'intense, concentrated bombardment' on eastern and southern Gaza City. Known for his fearless reporting from northern Gaza, he had become one of the most recognisable voices documenting the ongoing Israeli genocide in the enclave. Meanwhile, a video of Anas al-Sharif's daughter has resurfaced following his assassination by Israeli forces. The clip, which had been posted on al-Sharif's X account on June 16, shows four-year-old Sham speaking from the northern Gaza Strip and is accompanied by the caption: 'My little Sham Anas Al-Sharif's message to the world, after 620 days of the war of extermination in Gaza: How can this small heart bear these heavy burdens?! Our children are the fruits of pain ripened by the war!'. In the video, the girl says: 'I am the child Sham Anas al-Sharif from the northern Gaza Strip. I am four years old. I have lived through the war. 'The occupation bombed us and bombed the houses. Netanyahu doesn't want to stop the war. I wish I could go back to our home in Jabalia. 'The occupation bombed our house and killed my grandfather [Sidou]. I want to live like the children of the world. The occupation keeps bombing us. 'We want the war to end because we are tired. We want food. We want chicken. We want meat. We want water. We want everything. I am scared for my dad because of the bombing. We want the war to stop. We call on the world. End the war.' — Agencies
Leaders
12 hours ago
- Leaders
IAEA Official to Visit Iran to Restore Ties but No Inspections Planned
Iran announced that the Deputy Head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog will visit Tehran in an attempt to revive the bilateral relations that witnessed souring tensions since Israel's attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, according to Reuters. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency will not have any access to inspect Iran's nuclear facilities during the visit. Today's visit marks the first tour following Israel and Iran's 12-day war in June that had struck Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran & IAEA Relations Iranian relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have deteriorated since the United States and Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities in June in order to eliminate Iran's nuclear program. In June, the Iranian Guardian Council approved a law suspending Tehran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, Arab News reported. According to the new law, the IAEA should have approval by the Supreme National Security Council for any future inspection of Iran's nuclear sites. 'For us, IAEA inspectors approaching nuclear sites has both a security aspect … and the safety of the inspectors themselves is a matter that must be examined,' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said. He also told Tehran-based diplomats that Iran's cooperation with the nuclear watchdog has not stopped. However, it will take a new form and will be guided and managed through the Supreme National Security Council. This legislative move came as a response to a series of escalations that began on June 13, when Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on Iran under the name of Operation Rising Lion. The military campaign targeted Iran's nuclear facilities and killed top military commanders and nuclear scientists. Consequently, the US launched several airstrikes targeting Iran's nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. Related Topics: US Has Bank of Potential Military Targets in Iran: Col. Dahouk IAEA to Visit Iran Within Next Two Weeks Iran-Europe Nuclear Talks Loom as Sanctions Deadline Nears Short link : Post Views: 7
Arab News
18 hours ago
- Arab News
Migrants returning to Venezuela face debt and harsh living conditions
MARACAIBO: The hands of Yosbelin Pérez have made tens of thousands of the aluminum round gridles that Venezuelan families heat every day to cook arepas. She takes deep pride in making the revered 'budare,' the common denominator among rural tin-roofed homes and city apartments, but she owns nothing to her name despite the years selling cookware.Pérez, in fact, owes about $5,000 because she and her family never made it to the United States, where they had hoped to escape Venezuela's entrenched political, social and economic crisis. Now, like thousands of Venezuelans who have voluntarily or otherwise returned to their country this year, they are starting over as the crisis worsens.'When I decided to leave in August, I sold everything: house, belongings, car, everything from my factory — molds, sand. I was left with nothing,' Pérez, 30, said at her in-laws' home in western Venezuela. 'We arrived in Mexico, stayed there for seven months, and when President (Donald Trump) came to power in January, I said, 'Let's go!''She, her husband and five children returned to their South American country in pandemic pushed migrants to the USMore than 7.7 million Venezuelans have migrated since 2013, when their country's oil-dependent economy unraveled. Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, migrants saw the US as their best chance to improve their living Venezuelans entered the US under programs that allowed them to obtain work permits and shielded them from deportation. But since January, the White House has ended immigrants' protections and aggressively sought their deportations as US President Donald Trump fulfills his campaign promise to limit immigration to the USVenezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had long refused to take back deported Venezuelans but changed course earlier this year under pressure from the White House. Immigrants now arrive regularly at the airport outside the capital, Caracas, on flights operated by either a US government contractor or Venezuela's state-owned US government has defended its bold moves, including sending more than 200 Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador for four months, arguing that many of the immigrants belonged to the violent Tren de Aragua street gang. The administration did not provide evidence to back up the blanket accusation. However, several recently deported immigrants have said US authorities wrongly judged their tattoos and used them as an excuse to deport declared 'economic emergency'Many of those returning home, like Pérez and her family, are finding harsher living conditions than when they left as a currency crisis, triple-digit inflation and meager wages have made food and other necessities unaffordable, let alone the vehicle, home and electronics they sold before migrating. The monthly minimum wage of 130 bolivars, or $1.02 as of Monday, has not increased in Venezuela since 2022. People typically have two, three or more jobs to cobble together latest chapter in the 12-year crisis even prompted Maduro to declare an 'economic emergency' in Rodriguez migrated twice each to Colombia and Peru before he decided to try to get to the US He left Venezuela last year, crossed the treacherous Darien Gap on foot, made it across Central America and walked, hopped on a train and took buses all over Mexico. He then turned himself in to US immigration authorities in December, but he was detained for 15 days and deported to the 33-year-old Rodriguez worked as a mototaxi driver in Mexico City until he saved enough money to buy his airplane ticket back to Venezuela in March.'Going to the United States ... was a total setback,' he said while sitting at a relative's home in Caracas. 'Right now, I don't know what to do except get out of debt first.'He must pay $50 a week for a motorcycle he bought to work as a mototaxi driver. In a good week, he said, he can earn $150, but there are others when he only makes enough to meet the $50 seek loan sharksSome migrants enrolled in beauty and pastry schools or became food delivery drivers after being deported. Others already immigrated to Spain. Many sought loan sharks.Pérez's brother-in-law, who also made aluminum cookware before migrating last year, is allowing her to use the oven and other equipment he left at his home in Maracaibo so that the family can make a living. But most of her earnings go to cover the 40 percent monthly interest fee of a $1,000 the debt was not enough of a concern, Pérez is also having to worry about the exact reason that drove her away: extortion.Pérez said she and her family fled Maracaibo after she spent several hours in police custody in June 2024 for refusing to pay an officer $1,000. The officer, Pérez said, knocked on her door and demanded the money in exchange for letting her keep operating her unpermitted cookware business in her said officers tracked her down upon her return and already demanded money.'I work to make a living from one day to the next ... Last week, some guardsmen came. 'Look, you must support me,'' Pérez said she was told in early July.'So, if I don't give them any (money), others show up, too. I transferred him $5. It has to be more than $5 because otherwise, they'll fight you.'
