{"id":435343,"date":"2026-01-27T00:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/435343\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T00:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:28:10","slug":"mexican-president-shares-ai-generated-image-of-ryan-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/435343\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican president shares AI-generated image of Ryan Wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum presented reporters with a fake image of Ryan Wedding on Monday, insisting it amounted to evidence the accused drug kingpin had voluntarily turned himself in.<\/p>\n

CBC News has determined the image was, in fact, generated using artificial intelligence and posted to an Instagram account that purported to belong to Wedding that was debunked<\/a> last week. <\/p>\n

At a regularly-scheduled news conference in Mexico City, Sheinbaum sought to downplay any suggestion that U.S. authorities were operating on Mexican soil \u2014 insisting instead that the Ontario-born longtime fugitive had given himself up at the U.S. embassy \u201con his own two feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the image projected on a big screen behind her, Sheinbaum quoted from the Instagram post, which claims to be from Wedding\u2019s \u201crepresentative.\u201d<\/p>\n

“After seeking guarantees for a fair process,\u201d the Instagram caption reads, \u201cI have decided to voluntarily turn myself in to the authorities.”<\/p>\n

\"AAt a news conference in Mexico City on Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum presented reporters with what CBC News has determined is an AI-generated image of Wedding. (Mexican President’s Office)Image posted to debunked Instagram account<\/p>\n

The image in question was posted to the Instagram account bossryanw<\/a>, which CBC News recently reported was filled with AI-generated images purportedly linked to Wedding. <\/p>\n

Those images have all now been removed and the only photo that remains on the account is the AI-generated image purporting to show Wedding at the U.S. Embassy.<\/p>\n

Reached last week by a reporter, the person operating the social media account failed to provide any evidence of a connection to the 44-year-old former Olympic snowboarder.<\/p>\n

Wedding, who was listed as one of the FBI\u2019s 10 most-wanted fugitives, is accused of running a murderous criminal enterprise that shipped 60 tonnes of cocaine a year from Mexico into the U.S. and Canada. He was arrested last week and immediately flown to California to face federal charges, including murder.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a> posted online Monday, Mexican Attorney-General Ernestina Godoy Ramos described Wedding as a \u201ctop-tier logistics operator\u201d linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, who served \u201cas a key bridge for the mass distribution of drugs in North America.<\/p>\n

Wedding, who went by aliases including Public Enemy and El Jefe (the Boss) pleaded not guilty to federal charges<\/a> in a courtroom in Santa Ana, Calif., on Monday.<\/p>\n

Outside the courthouse, Wedding’s defence lawyer, Anthony Colombo, told reporters his client was apprehended.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Any spin that the government in Mexico is putting on this, that he surrendered, is inaccurate.”<\/p>\n

WATCH | Longtime fugitive Ryan Wedding is escorted off a plane by FBI agents:\"\"<\/p>\n

Captured Canadian fugitive Ryan Wedding lands in U.S.<\/p>\n

A flight carrying Olympian-turned-drug kingpin Ryan Wedding touches down at an airport in Ontario, Calif., on Friday, a day after the Canadian surrendered to U.S. authorities in Mexico.
\nImage bears hallmarks of AI<\/p>\n

The AI-generated image posted Friday shows a man resembling Wedding in the same clothes he was seen wearing upon his arrival at a Los Angeles-area airport surrounded by FBI agents hours earlier. The man in the image is purportedly posing in front of the U.S. embassy in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

However, CBC News verified the embassy building seen in the image is currently undergoing renovations, with a large banner that reads \u201cwe\u2019ve moved\u201d visible outside. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the black cap the man is seen wearing bears a hallmark of AI image generation: the letters on the front of the hat are garbled. <\/p>\n

Sheinbaum\u2019s office did not immediately return a request for comment on the president\u2019s use of the AI-generated image.<\/p>\n

A representative for Mexican Security Minister Omar Garc\u00eda Harfuch declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\"PeopleThe U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, where an AI-generated image of Wedding was purportedly taken, is currently undergoing renovations, as seen here on Monday. (Jason Burles\/CBC)Duelling narratives on arrest<\/p>\n

The debacle highlights a bigger issue: the duelling narratives presented by U.S. and Mexican officials, regarding the sequence of events leading up to Wedding\u2019s high-profile arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a Vanity Fair article<\/a> shared online by FBI director Kash Patel, Wedding was first captured on Thursday by Mexican authorities, then taken into U.S. custody after \u201cintense\u201d negotiations with the FBI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no joint operations in Mexico,\u201d Sheinbaum insisted on Monday. \u201cWe would not allow that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking generally, she said Mexican law enforcement can act on U.S. intelligence regarding a suspect wanted by U.S. authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Godoy, the Mexican attorney general, said Wedding\u2019s \u201cvoluntary surrender [followed] intense pressure\u201d from her office and Mexico\u2019s security secretariat.<\/p>\n