Mexican president accuses U.S. Pentagon of espionage

MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday accused the U.S. Pentagon of espionage, saying his government will protect its national defense information.

In his daily press conference, the Mexican president said that as part of this, Mexican media receive leaks from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

"We are going to guard the information from the Ministry of the Navy and the (Ministry of National) Defense because we are being spied on by the Pentagon and a lot of media in Mexico are leaking information provided by the DEA," he said.

Lopez Obrador said that his administration will protect state information for national security reasons, as well as in defense of Mexico's sovereignty.

The president's remarks came a day after he accused the DEA of "abusive meddling" and "arrogance" for an alleged operation to infiltrate the Sinaloa drug trafficking cartel.

The U.S. government claims Mexico is responsible for the illegal trafficking of fentanyl into its territory.

In response, Mexico said the United States is not doing enough to combat the causes that lead its population to resort to illicit drugs.