In September 2022, Distributed Denial of Secrets published roughly six terabytes of internal Mexican military emails and documents dating from 2010 through 2022. Known as the Guacamaya or SEDENA Leaks, the material reportedly documented surveillance of journalists, activists, opposition politicians and feminist organizations, including the use of Pegasus spyware against journalists, human-rights defenders and government officials. The files also described widespread sexual abuse within the army and treated groups opposing military policy as security threats.
The disclosures raised questions about the military’s role in the investigation of the forced disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa, as well as its expanding commercial and construction role under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The administration, which had campaigned against state surveillance, attempted to minimize the findings while López Obrador continued to deny that his government spies on private citizens. The leak became a major challenge to civilian oversight of Mexico’s increasingly powerful armed forces and to official transparency claims.
