The circumstances surrounding the arrest a few days ago in Mexico of Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympian accused in the US of leading a drug trafficking organization, have raised questions about the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Wedding, 44, who was on the FBI's list of 10 most wanted fugitives, was arrested on January 22 in Mexico.

US authorities, who had offered a $15 million reward for his capture, accuse him of leading a criminal group from Mexico in alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel.

Last week, Patel and US Attorney General Pam Bondi reported that the alleged Canadian drug trafficker had been arrested in Mexico by FBI agents in collaboration with Mexican authorities and had been transferred to the US to face justice.

That version contrasted with the one given by Mexico's Secretary of Security, Omar Garcia Harfuch, who said in a message on Twitter that Wedding had surrendered at the US Embassy in Mexico City.

These contradictions regarding the circumstances of Wedding's arrest led to President Claudia Sheinbaum publicly denied this week that US agents had conducted an operation on Mexican soil and reiterated the version that the Canadian had surrendered at the US embassy. Mexican law prohibits foreign agents from physically participating in police operations on national territory. To add fuel to the fire, The Wall Street Journal published a report this Wednesday asserting that Wedding's capture was carried out in a joint secret operation by the FBI and Mexican authorities, and that the contradictions between the accounts given by officials from both countries had strained bilateral relations.

Who is Ryan Wedding and what is he accused of?

Ryan James Wedding is originally from Ontario, Canada.

Since his teens, he has practiced snowboarding in Canadian school and regional competitions that took him to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA.

He did not have a notable performance, finishing in 24th place in the giant slalom.

When he retired from competition, his life took an unexpected turn: “He went from gliding down the snow slopes in the Olympic Games to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of cities in the United States and Canada,” according to the FBI.

He was known by several aliases, such as “The Boss,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” or “Jesse King.”

The US justice system accuses Wedding of leading a criminal organization along with another Canadian, Andrew Clark, allegedly trafficking drugs and ordering murders in collusion with the Sinaloa Cartel, the organization the US designated as a “transnational terrorist” group.

According to US authorities, both were hiding in Mexico, from where they had led their criminal organization for more than a decade.

The indictment filed in a federal court in Los Angeles states that “Wedding, Clark, and others allegedly conspired to ship large quantities of cocaine, weighing hundreds of kilograms, from the United States to Canada through a Canadian-based drug transportation network between approximately January and August 2024.” US media outlets, agreed to cooperate with authorities.

What is known about his arrest

The first news of Wedding's arrest came from the FBI director, who stated that the Canadian was arrested on the night of January 22 in Mexico.

“This operation is the result of tremendous cooperation and teamwork with the Mexican government!” Patel wrote on Twitter, thanking President Sheinbaum, Secretary of Security Omar Garcia Harfuch, and Ambassador Johnson, among others.

He also mentioned the participation of the FBI's HRT (Hostage Rescue Team), CIRG (Critical Incident Response Group), and US government aviation.

“Our FBI HRT teams acted with precision, discipline, and total professionalism alongside our Mexican partners to bring Ryan James Wedding back to face justice,” Patel wrote.

Shortly after,The Mexican government also confirmed Wedding's arrest and his transfer to the US But Secretary Garcia Harfuch's office asserted that the Canadian had surrendered "voluntarily" to US authorities.

“The FBI Director departed today for the United States, taking (…) a Canadian citizen who surrendered voluntarily yesterday at the US Embassy,” Garcia Harfuch wrote in X.

Upon his return to the US,Patel made comments that raised serious questions about how Wedding's arrest had been carried out.

Conflicting Versions

At a press conference in Los Angeles, next to the plan that transported Wedding, Patel asserted that the capture was made possible thanks to the collaboration of Mexican and US authorities who worked "side by side with our teams on the ground to apprehend Ryan Wedding last night in Mexico City."

His words generated controversy in Mexico, especially because of the mention that US agents were working “on the ground.”

Last Monday, President Sheinbaum denied that there had been any US operations in the country and showed an Instagram post from an alleged Wedding account in which he claimed to have surrendered at the US Embassy in Mexico City.

“It has to be very clear because, in addition, some pundits love to go around saying the opposite: there are no joint operations in Mexico. That is, the agents of the United States, of the FBI, or of any other agency, are very clear about their limitations, which are established by the Constitution and by the National Security Law,” Sheinbaum said.

On Tuesday, the questioning continued, so the president insisted: “I am not going to get into a controversy with the director of the FBI nor do I want there to be a conflict. What they, the US authorities, told the Mexican authorities is that it was a voluntary surrender. cited a message from Ambassador Johnson about Wedding's "voluntary surrender" as an example of bilateral cooperation. The controversy continued until Thursday, after the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal published an article in which, Citing “Mexican and US officials familiar with the operation,” the report asserts that FBI agents participated in Wedding's arrest in Mexico, something that “was intended to be kept secret.” The report refers to the elite HRT commando unit, which also participated in the US intervention in Venezuela to arrest and transfer President Nicolas Maduro and his wife to the US on January 3. This has been compounded by a statement from Wedding's lawyer, Anthony Colombo, who told reporters that his client “was arrested, he did not surrender.” “If the US government unilaterally enters a sovereign country and detains someone, you can understand the concern that sovereign entity might have," Colombo said Tuesday in the Los Angeles court where his client is being prosecuted. Some analysts believe Colombo's statement may be a legal strategy for his client's defense, who pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against him. US federal forces.”

“We collaborate, they give us information, we give them information… but the operations in our territory are by Mexican forces. That has to be very clear,” she added.

Why Mexico denies the US operation

According to Mexico's National Security Law, foreign agents cannot make arrests or conduct raids in Mexico, and their activities must be controlled by the Ministry of National Defense.

With President Donald Trump's return to the White House a year ago, the Mexican government has been subjected to more pressure to collaborate with Washington on security and the fight against drug trafficking, with the Republican president even going so far as to... to threaten direct actions by US military forces on Mexican territory.

Sheinbaum has insisted on her motto of “shared responsibility” with Washington: “We collaborate, they give us information, we give them information… but the operations on our territory are by Mexican forces. That has to be very clear,” the president insisted this Thursday.

“I'm not going to get into a further discussion with the head of the FBI, but it has to be very clear that we do not accept joint operations. We always tell President Trump that. And they have seen that we are making very good progress. WhatsApp channel.