This March, a car carrying alleged Sinaloa cartel figure Francisco “El Payin” Beltrán mysteriously exploded on a busy Mexican highway outside the capital city. The incident was part of an “expanded and previously unreported CIA campaign” that has sent American assets to “dismantle the entrenched cartel networks” in Mexico, said CNN. The CIA and Mexican government have denied the network’s allegations of an agency-run disruption program south of the border, even as newly reported details suggest a complex and widening operation.

Source of friction with Mexico
“Since last year,” CIA assets have “directly participated in deadly attacks on several mostly mid-level” cartel members on Mexican soil, said CNN. The operations are a “significant expansion of the kind of thing the CIA has been willing to do inside Mexico,” with the “lethality” of their work “seriously ramped up,” said a source to the outlet. 

The renewed focus on potential CIA activity within Mexico comes as President Donald Trump pursues an “aggressive campaign” against alleged Latin American drug cartels — one that critics claim has “overstepped legal and presidential norms,” said Al Jazeera. The effort has been a “source of friction” with Mexico and culminated last month in a threat from President Claudia Sheinbaum to “sanction authorities” who allegedly allowed CIA operatives to “participate in raids on clandestine drug laboratories.”

The “presence of CIA agents on the ground” in Mexico, for the second time in less than a month, has “unsettled” the Sheinbaum administration, said El País. “At different times,” denials from the CIA and Sheinbaum government might have “resonated more strongly with the public,” but “in light of the events of recent weeks, doubts now surround their statements.”

‘Who did this?’
The CIA “definitely wanted this incident to create the question in everyone’s mind of who did this,” said a former agency paramilitary officer to CNN about Beltrán’s death. It’s also in the Mexican government’s “interest” to accept the CIA’s denials of its participation in operations on Mexican soil, said The Washington Examiner, “given the taboo of direct U.S. intervention.”

Chinese-made EVs are increasingly popular around the world but not in the U.S. market, where imports are mostly banned. And American automakers and their allies in Congress want to keep it that way.

Congress is pushing to “lock Chinese cars out of the U.S. market,” said Autoweek. Michigan Reps. John Moolenaar and Debbie Dingell introduced a bill this week to expand a Biden-era block on “smart” cars with Chinese-made software systems, citing national security concerns.

American automakers are also alarmed by what they see as unfair competition from Beijing-backed companies like BYD, Geely and Nio that have made “steady market share gains in ​Europe and Mexico,” said Reuters. Geely sells its EX2 EV for $22,500 in Mexico, while the average sale price of a new car in the U.S. is $51,000. 

‘Common sight in border towns’
Lifting the block on Chinese EVs could “devastate the U.S. auto industry,” Sandy K. Baruah and Glenn Stevens Jr. said at The Detroit News. China has “cunningly” built its carmakers using “vast state subsidies, uncompetitive labor practices and the monopolization of raw materials” to “dominate the global market.” Those practices have created “unfair play,” with Chinese companies now accounting for 62% of all new global EV sales. 

It’s a question of “when, not if,” Chinese cars will hit U.S. roads, said Katrina Hamlin at Reuters. The vehicles are “cheaper” and “snazzier” than what American brands offer, and U.S. drivers seem “​keen to buy” Chinese cars as “budget models become increasingly scarce” at home. BYD cars purchased in Mexico are already a “common sight in American border towns like El Paso and San Diego.”

Congress is not buying
Are cars the “next TikTok”? said Matthew Choi and Dan Merica at The Washington Post. Lawmakers are concerned that data collected by Chinese smart cars could be shared with Beijing, echoing the fears that led to the sale of TikTok’s American operations to U.S.-based Oracle. 

President Donald Trump has suggested he would welcome Chinese automakers as long as their cars are “built by Americans in the U.S.” So far, though, that’s “not a caveat Congress is buying.”

People walk past a fire in Havana last night after aggravated protests over blackouts. Cuba is suffering its worst fuel shortages in decades. “This dramatic worsening has a single cause: the genocidal energy blockade to which the United States subjects our country,” said Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in an X post.
Yamil Lage / AFP / Getty Images

May is peak season on Broadway. All the shows that want to meet the cutoff for Tony Award eligibility have opened. Now, the Tony nominations have been announced, and not every show that opened this season will survive the coming months. So now is your chance to see the best of Broadway’s new shows while they are still around.

‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’
Leave it to Black and queer people to give Andrew Lloyd Webber’s beloved musical its tenth life. “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” (pictured above) changes not a sandpaper-tongue lick of the text but moves the story to the underground world of ballroom. The performers vogue, duck walk, dip and shake their asses alongside Broadway legend André De Shields and Harlem ballroom legend Junior LaBeija. (through Sept. 6)

‘Chess’
This Cold War rock-pop musical was a monster concept-album hit during the 1980s, meaning you may likely already know the show’s breakout song, “One Night in Bangkok.” The score, written by two members of Abba, is a full-bore banger, and the cast, led by Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele and Tony nominee Nicholas Christopher, launch the songs far into the rafters. (through Sept. 13)

‘Titaníque’
Imagine Céline Dion narrating the tale of the movie “Titanic” by way of her own hit songs and a whole lot of camp and wild improvisation. Welcome to “Titaníque,” the ludicrous, delirious and side-splitting musical that began years ago in the farthest reaches of Off-Broadway and has splashed its way onto Broadway. Tony nominee Marla Mindelle, who plays Céline, is an estimable loon with enviable comedic chops and glorious vocals. (through Sept. 20)