Sheinbaum Says Wanted Ex-Prosecutor’s US Shelter Won’t Strain Ties

President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Nov. 13 that the case of Guillermo Zuany Portillo, a former special prosecutor in Chihuahua who is wanted in Mexico and reportedly now under U.S. government protection, will not cause friction with Washington. She said she would ask the federal Security Cabinet for everything it knows about him, including where he is.

At the same mañanera (her daily morning press conference), Sheinbaum said a working group is studying why two federal agencies report very different homicide totals for 2025, and the head of the agency that sells seized assets reported the results of an auction held in Mexico City, according to Mexico News Daily.

Zuany case: what the US reports say

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Zuany had helped the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operate in Chihuahua. In return, the paper said, his U.S. visa was reinstated after being revoked over suspected ties to the same cartels the CIA was targeting. On Thursday, the Times reported that he had fled to the United States and was under U.S. protection, citing U.S. and Mexican officials.

Asked about it on Friday, Sheinbaum said “the story about this character is long” and declined to go into it at the press conference. She did call his reported cooperation with U.S. authorities “very significant, even for the bilateral relationship.” When a reporter asked whether the situation could create friction, she said no, because the matter had been discussed with the U.S. government. She added that she hoped the federal Attorney General’s Office or the Security Cabinet could provide information.

A dispute running through 2026

The case is part of a larger story about CIA activity in Chihuahua. In April, CIA officers allegedly took part in a raid on a drug lab with Chihuahua state forces, without the federal government’s knowledge or authorization. Two CIA agents and two Chihuahua police officials died in a car accident after the raid.

The episode has strained relations between the federal government and Chihuahua’s government, led by Governor Maru Campos of the National Action Party (PAN, the main opposition party), and led Sheinbaum to accuse the U.S. government of interference. Last month, former Chihuahua attorney general César Jáuregui was taken into federal custody on a treason charge connected to the raid. In April, Sheinbaum said the U.S. had agreed to respect the Mexican Constitution and Mexican laws in security cooperation.

Why it matters: two homicide counts for 2025

The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) counted 29,488 homicides in 2025. The Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), which compiles data from state prosecutors, counted 24,348. The gap of 5,140 is the largest in more than a decade, according to Mexico News Daily, and it comes as critics question whether state Attorney General’s Offices are undercounting.

The two sources also disagree on the trend. INEGI’s final data shows homicides fell 12.1% in 2025 compared with the year before, while the SESNSP reported a drop of 21.2%.

Sheinbaum said the monthly figures shown at her press conferences come from the state prosecutors’ offices, while INEGI classifies deaths using death certificates and other records and publishes both preliminary and final numbers. She said the upward revision between INEGI’s preliminary and final 2025 counts was larger than in past years, and that the review with INEGI will also compare, state by state, what prosecutors reported against what the civil registry later recorded. In August, the Security Ministry described differences between the two sources as “expected” and said both show the same trend.

Seized motorcycles sold in Mexico City

Mónica Fernández, director of the Institute to Return Stolen Goods to the People (INDEP), said an auction this week of luxury motorcycles once owned by Canadian drug trafficker Ryan Wedding brought in 70.91 million pesos (US $3.8 million), around 11 million pesos more than expected. The auction was held in Mexico City and drew a large turnout, she said.

Fifty-seven of the 62 motorcycles sold. Authorities seized them last December in raids on four properties in Mexico City and México state, and they went to INDEP in July. Wedding surrendered to Mexican authorities in January after more than a decade as a fugitive.

What happens next

The five unsold motorcycles will be offered again at an INDEP auction in late November. Money from this week’s sale and other seized assets goes to the Office of the Presidency for social programs, including support for the widows of the 2006 Pasta de Conchos mine disaster and for Raramuri and Amuzgo Indigenous communities.

Source: Mexico News Daily