The Mexican government and the CIA have denied a report by CNN that the US CIA has participated in targeted assassinations of alleged drug cartel members in Mexico. The report alleges that the CIA has been involved in deadly anti-cartel operations aimed at dismantling Mexico's drug cartels. The CIA has reportedly participated in several attacks on drug trafficking syndicates since last year, including a car explosion in March that killed Francisco Beltran, an alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel. In a social media post, CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons called the report "false and salacious" and a PR campaign for the cartels, while Mexico's Secretary of Security Omar Garcia Harfuch denied the allegations. The US government has designated nine Latin America-based drug gangs as "terrorist" organisations and launched dozens of air strikes on boats suspected of ferrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.