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“If you are going to handle and recruit spies, proximity is key and that’s what Mexico offers,” said Duyane Norman, the C.I.A.’s chief of operations in Latin America until he retired in 2019. “Russia can act with greater impunity in Mexico — there are not as many eyes on them as in the U.S. or Canada.”

Only a few cases have emerged in public, including that of a Mexican citizen, Héctor Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, who was arrested in 2020 trying to board a flight from Miami to Mexico. In Florida, prosecutors said, Mr. Fuentes had tried to gather information on a confidential U.S. source who had “provided information about the Russian government to the U.S. government.”

Mr. Fuentes pleaded guilty in 2022, and now lives in Mexico. He declined to comment.

C.I.A. Files and U.S. Warnings

While most operatives remained hidden, some signs of Russian interest are in plain sight.

Russia’s embassy in Mexico City is one of its largest around the world, with 85 diplomats listed there even though Mexico and Russia have few cultural, military or economic ties. In contrast, Mexico has 16 diplomats at its Moscow embassy, according to its Foreign Ministry.

The C.I.A. put together thick files on people stationed at the Russian Embassy, with details of their past posts and specific espionage operations in Europe and the United States, according to three American officials briefed separately by the agency.

Since 2022, U.S. officials have raised concerns about Russian spies to Mexico’s president, foreign minister and others “multiple times,” said Mr. González, the former Biden administration official. Another American official said the same concerns were raised with the government of Mexico’s current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office last fall.