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	"created_at": "2026-04-06T00:09:04.469952Z",
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	"title": "Pegasus spyware trial implicating former president kicks off in Mexico",
	"llm_title": "",
	"authors": "",
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	"plain_text": "Pegasus spyware trial implicating former president kicks off in\r\nMexico\r\nBy Suzanne Smalley\r\nPublished: 2023-12-05 · Archived: 2026-04-05 21:59:42 UTC\r\nA far-reaching Pegasus scandal in Mexico went to court Monday with prosecutors focused on how the spyware\r\ntargeted one of the country’s most celebrated investigative journalists and other prominent Mexicans, including\r\nthe billionaire Carlos Slim.\r\nThe journalist, Carmen Aristegui, was allegedly spied on during the Enrique Peña Nieto administration, which ran\r\nfrom 2012 to 2018. She is the first witness in a sprawling trial with a large number of alleged victims. It could run\r\nfor months, according to reporting from the Spanish newspaper El Pais.\r\nThe Mexican Pegasus case centers on how the potent spyware manufactured by the Israeli firm NSO Group was\r\nused to surveil potentially thousands of victims across multiple Mexican presidential administrations, El Pais\r\nreported. Pegasus gives users the ability to see the contents of a victim’s phone as well as activate its camera and\r\nmicrophone for real time spying, according to privacy experts.\r\nGovernment-led spyware campaigns have rocked Europe in recent years with major incidents including alleged\r\ngovernment spying on opposition politicians in Poland and a Russian journalist to cite two of many incidents that\r\nhave spanned Greece, Spain and Hungary, among other countries.\r\nA key prosecution witness — a whistleblower known as Zeus — told the court Monday that Peña Nieto and his\r\nstaff ordered the alleged targeting of Aristegui as well as Slim and mining mogul Germán Larrea, according to El\r\nPais.\r\nPeña Nieto is not the only Mexican politician implicated in the scandal. A recently completed investigation by the\r\nDigital Rights Defense Network showed that during the current administration government agencies also used\r\nPegasus to spy on at least three people. Mexican journalist Ricardo Raphael and human rights activist Raymundo\r\nRamos are among the alleged victims.\r\nAristegui — one of the country’s leading journalists who is known for her critical reports on the government —\r\nwas one of the few victims to push for a trial, El Pais reported. In court Monday, she demanded justice, saying she\r\nhoped the Attorney General’s Office has “enough elements to clarify the case,” El Pais reported\r\nEarly in the Peña Nieto administration, the journalist and her investigative team reported on alleged corruption\r\namong the president and his staff, ultimately publishing a story about the relationship between Peña Nieto and a\r\nbusiness conglomerate. According to El Pais, the story focused on an expensive home owned by Peña Nieto which\r\nwas registered in the name of the business conglomerate and protected by the army.\r\nAfter the report was published, Pegasus was used to monitor Aristegui’s phone, prosecutors allege. Aristegui\r\nuncovered thousands of documents about the use of Pegasus to target her, El Pais reported, and broadcast her\r\nhttps://therecord.media/mexico-pegasus-spyware-trial-kicks-off\r\nPage 1 of 3\n\nallegations on her news network.\r\nThe whistleblower, Zeus, was Aristegui’s source. He reported the spying had been executed by KBH business\r\ngroup, a supplier of Pegasus in Mexico, El Pais reported.\r\nAristegui gave the documents to the Mexican Attorney General’s office, which ultimately arrested the man who\r\nallegedly oversaw the spying, Juan Carlos García Rivera, a staffer at a KBH subsidiary.\r\nGarcia Rivera could potentially face 16 years in prison for his role in the scheme, according to El Pais.\r\nSuzanne Smalley\r\nis a reporter covering digital privacy, surveillance technologies and cybersecurity policy for The Record. She was\r\npreviously a cybersecurity reporter at CyberScoop. Earlier in her career Suzanne covered the Boston Police\r\nDepartment for the Boston Globe and two presidential campaign cycles for Newsweek. She lives in Washington\r\nwith her husband and three children.\r\nhttps://therecord.media/mexico-pegasus-spyware-trial-kicks-off\r\nPage 2 of 3\n\nSource: https://therecord.media/mexico-pegasus-spyware-trial-kicks-off\r\nhttps://therecord.media/mexico-pegasus-spyware-trial-kicks-off\r\nPage 3 of 3",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
	"language": "EN",
	"sources": [
		"ETDA"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://therecord.media/mexico-pegasus-spyware-trial-kicks-off"
	],
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		"mexico-pegasus-spyware-trial-kicks-off"
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