(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The New York Times reported Tuesday that a prosecutor in Mexico is now a wanted fugitive for partnering with the CIA in a purported operation to take on the country’s drug cartels.
The Times added that the prosecutor, Guillermo Zuany Portillo, is suspected of being in bed with the same cartels he was supposedly working with the CIA to eradicate. In fact, he was under investigation by the FBI, and had his U.S. visa revoked last year due to his cartel links—only to have it reinstated when he started working with the CIA.
The CIA partnered with Portillo despite him being accused of being involved in the 2022 murder of two police officers. One of his accusers has been placed in U.S. witness protection over the matter, according to the Times.
The CIA’s operation in Mexico was made public in April, when two CIA officers were killed during a raid on Sinaloa Cartel methamphetamine labs. Now, Portillo is a wanted fugitive, while his boss, Chihuahua’s former attorney general, César Jáuregui, has been charged with treason.
The CIA’s partnership with Portillo had mixed results, according to the Times.
The CIA partnered last year with a corrupt Mexican prosecutor who's in bed with the cartels, ostensibly to take out those same cartels, according to a report this morning from NYT.
The prosecutor, Guillermo Portillo, reportedly just had his US visa revoked due to his cartel ties,… pic.twitter.com/EwdMVZq5Z7— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 10, 2026
“In several cases, the operations ended in frustration when cartel targets got away … raising suspicions among some Mexican agents that the criminals had been tipped off,” wrote the Times, which interviewed at least nine officials and reviewed a trove of documents for its story.
“During one operation, Mr. Zuany and several Americans officers helped lead a mission to detain a cartel boss at a local bar, according to two Mexican officials who participated and two who were briefed. When Mexican forces arrived, the man and his crew were gone, visibly upsetting the Americans.”
Jáuregui, the attorney general arrested for treason, has denied the charge—blaming a state police commander who also died in the crash for the CIA’s presence in Mexico.
Zuany also denied the allegations against him.
“I have always conducted myself ethically and professionally,” the fugitive reportedly told the Times in a text message.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
