Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denied on Tuesday that his government was spying on his opponents, rejecting claims by several media outlets that the military tapped the phones of at least three people using the controversial Pegasus software, AFP writes.

“It is not true that journalists or opponents are being spied on,” López Obrador told reporters. “The army was not engaged in espionage (…) What is being done is (gathering) information to fight criminals,” he said.

According to several media reports in recent days, a group of hackers identified as Guacamaya has extracted information from a military database that shows it continued to use the Pegasus spy program after López Obrador took office in 2018 despite to his assurance that nothing will happen. more abuses during his presidency.

According to the Mexican digital rights group R3D, with technical support from Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity project at the University of Toronto, the phones of a journalist, columnist and human rights activist were allegedly infected with this spyware between 2019 and 2021.

Allegations of improper use of Pegasus in Mexico date back to 2017, when the country was governed by President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018). They reappeared in July 2021 after new revelations in the media.

López Obrador did not confirm or deny whether Pegasus was still being used by military intelligence, but announced that the military would submit a report on the matter.

“We are not like the (previous) governments. I have made a commitment that we will not spy on anyone, not on members of the opposition,” insisted the president, who claims that his political opponents are behind the leak.