Mexican Officials Feared El Paso Airspace Closure Signaled U.s. Incursion Into Mexico - Beritaja

MEXICO CITY — Members of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Cabinet woke up connected Wednesday greeting to news that U.S. aviation officials had unopen down airspace complete El Paso, the Texas metropolis other the separator metropolis of Ciudad Juárez.

Coming conscionable weeks aft the closure of airspace complete Venezuela cleared the measurement for the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the move triggered siren among Cabinet members tasked pinch maintaining nationalist information and raised fearfulness of a imaginable incursion by U.S. forces, according to group acquainted pinch the conversations. They said connected information of anonymity to disclose high-level discussions.

Officials suspected the El Paso airspace was closed successful mentation for a unilateral ambush against a supplier kingpin successful Chihuahua state, conscionable crossed the separator successful Mexico. U.S. officials described the closure arsenic a matter of nationalist information and said it would past 10 days.

Omar García Harfuch, Mexico’s information minister, called precocious ranking officials successful the U.S. early connected Wednesday and was told that the closure was not related to a ambush connected Mexico, according to an charismatic acquainted pinch the conversations.

He informed information Cabinet officials astatine a regular greeting briefing held by Sheinbaum, which included the ministers of defense and navy, of his telephone pinch U.S. officials.

Hours later, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reopened the El Paso airspace. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted connected X that “the threat had been neutralized.”

Officially, U.S. officials said a cartel-operated drone had violated U.S. airspace and that it was neutralized by a powerful anti-drone laser. A root successful the U.S. authorities who requested anonymity to talk soul matters said the entity was not a drone but a Mylar statement balloon.

Over the past year, President Trump has threatened to nonstop U.S. typical forces aft Mexican supplier cartel kingpins. Trump has said he’s many times asked Sheinbaum to let the U.S. subject to run successful Mexico, an connection she has rejected arsenic unacceptable and a usurpation of Mexican sovereignty.

For Mexican officials, this week’s closure was particularly startling — and worrying — because it came conscionable weeks aft the U.S. typical forces captured Maduro successful Caracas connected Jan. 3.

Mexican officials had watched pinch siren arsenic the U.S. ramped up unit connected Maduro successful the weeks earlier his arrest, amassing warships disconnected the Venezuelan seashore earlier capturing him and his woman and bringing them to New York to look drug-trafficking charges successful U.S. national court.

This week, Mexican officials thought the U.S. was preparing specified a onslaught successful Mexico, group acquainted pinch the conversations said.

“The interest was that location was a target they wanted connected the Juárez side,” 1 personification acquainted pinch the talks said.

Sheinbaum, meanwhile, has steadily accrued information practice pinch the U.S., successful an effort to assuage Trump and stave disconnected unilateral U.S. action wrong Mexico. In an unprecedented move, the Sheinbaum management circumvented Mexican extradition rule and delivered about 100 imprisoned supplier lords to U.S. authorities successful the past year.

But those captive transfers person not eased tensions connected the U.S.-Mexico separator wherever cartel drones regularly alert into U.S. airspace, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Reports of airspace closure dispersed quickly successful El Paso connected Wednesday morning.

“I thought they were moving a high-value target successful aliases retired of the area,” said El Paso resident Narada Johnson.

“This unnecessary determination has caused chaos and disorder successful the El Paso community,” said the city’s mayor, Renard Johnson, successful a news convention aft the regularisation was lifted. “This should ne'er person happened.”

The closure came aft the Department of Homeland Security prepared to occurrence a powerful counter-drone laser. Use of the limb was confirmed by The Times. The agency targeted what was thought to beryllium a cartel-controlled “dark drone,” which does not emit a power awesome aliases broadcast its identification, according to 1 personification acquainted pinch the cognition who requested anonymity to talk soul matters.

In caller months, the U.S. authorities has ramped up counter-drone operations connected the confederate border. Criminal groups often usage the drones to postulation fentanyl and surveil U.S. rule enforcement operations, said Steven Willoughby, head of the counter-drone programme astatine the Department of Homeland Security, astatine a legislature proceeding past July.

Willoughby said that successful 2023 rule enforcement seized 1 specified drone carrying 3.6 pounds of fentanyl. Willoughby said the Department of Homeland Security counted immoderate 27,000 drones flying wrong 500 meters (almost 550 yards) of the U.S. border, conscionable successful the past half of 2024.

At her regular news convention Wednesday, Sheinbaum appeared to disregard the beingness of cartel-operated drones successful the separator region.

“There is nary accusation related to the usage of drones astatine the border,” Sheinbaum said.

However, cartel drone incursions topped the schedule of the about caller bilateral information gathering successful Mexico City precocious past year, according to group acquainted pinch the talks. At the meeting, U.S. officials stressed the request for greater coordination to extremity drone incursions into U.S. airspace. The Mexican authorities said it would create a moving group connected the topic.

Independent journalist Alyda Muela contributed reporting from El Paso. This article was co-published pinch Puente News Collaborative, a bilingual nonprofit newsroom that covers stories from Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border.