Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador accused the Pentagon of eavesdropping on his government on Tuesday following U.S. media leaks. He said he would classify military material to safeguard national security.
His remarks come days after the Washington Post reported on apparent tensions between Mexico’s Navy and Army, citing a U.S. military briefing leaked online.
“We’re being spied on by the Pentagon,” Lopez Obrador told his daily press conference.
A Pentagon official said the U.S. Department of Defense has a “strong collaborative defense partnership” with Mexico’s Army and Navy and addresses similar concerns “while respecting each other’s sovereignty and respective foreign policy agendas.”
The Pentagon has branded the leak a “deliberate, criminal act.”
The Washington Post said that Mexican government conversations did not intercept the paper.
Lopez Obrador faces pressure to hold the military accountable for years of alleged atrocities, including disappearances and executions. He has enhanced the army’s involvement in public safety and sought to manage the militarized National Guard.
On Monday, Lopez Obrador called the U.S. information in the leaks an “abusive, overbearing intrusion that should not be accepted under any circumstance,” adding that he would eventually discuss “conditions for collaborative work.”
He denied spying on Tuesday after new reports of Pegasus use during his administration.
On Tuesday, prominent Mexico-based rights group Centro Prodh stated two of its staff had their phones targeted by Pegasus last year, according to a study by Toronto-based digital watchdog Citizen Lab, the latest of several alleged Pegasus occurrences during Lopez Obrador’s presidency.
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