If you’ve watched Taylor Sheridan’s Sicario films, you’ve probably spent a good chunk of time trying to figure out what, exactly, Alejandro Gillick is. He’s not a cop. He’s definitely not FBI. He’s clearly not just some random hired gun. So, is Alejandro Gillick CIA? The short answer? No. Not in the "employee of the month with a dental plan" sense. But in the world of black ops, labels are kinda fluid. Honestly, if you asked Matt Graver (Josh Brolin’s character), he’d probably call Alejandro an "asset" or a "contractor." But to the people on the ground in Juárez, he’s simply "Medellín."
The Man Behind the Mask: Who is Alejandro Gillick?
Alejandro is one of the most terrifying characters in modern cinema because he’s a ghost. We know he was once a high-ranking prosecutor in Mexico—a man of the law. But the cartels don't like lawyers who can't be bought. In a move of staggering cruelty, the Sonora Cartel (led by Fausto Alarcón) murdered Alejandro’s wife and daughter. His wife was beheaded; his daughter was thrown into a vat of acid.
That kind of trauma doesn't just change a person; it erases them. The prosecutor died that day, and a "sicario"—a hitman—was born.
When we meet him in the first film, he’s working with a CIA-led task force. But he’s not on the payroll as an intelligence officer. He’s a specialized weapon that the CIA "turned loose." Think of him as a freelance predator that the U.S. government occasionally leases when they need to do something so dirty they can’t let a guy with a federal ID badge near it.
Is Alejandro Gillick CIA? The Reality of the "Asset" Label
To understand why people get confused about whether Alejandro is CIA, you have to look at how Matt Graver uses him. Graver is a CIA SAC (Special Activities Center) officer. These are the guys who handle the "unattributable" stuff.
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Why the CIA "Hired" a Mexican Prosecutor
- Deniability: If Alejandro gets caught, the U.S. can say they’ve never heard of him. He’s a foreign national, not a citizen.
- Expertise: He knows the cartels from the inside. He knows their patterns, their families, and their fears.
- Motivation: You don't have to pay a man like Alejandro in money. You pay him in access. The CIA gives him the location of the people who killed his family, and in exchange, he does the killing the CIA wants done.
Basically, Alejandro is an independent contractor with a very specific set of skills and a singular motivation: revenge. In Sicario: Day of the Soldado, this relationship gets even muddier. He’s once again recruited by Graver to start a war between the cartels. But when the mission goes sideways and the Secretary of Defense orders the "assets" to be scrubbed, the CIA tries to kill him. You don't usually try to drone-strike your own actual employees (well, hopefully not).
The Medellín Connection
One of the most telling moments in the first movie is when the cartel members recognize him. They don't call him "CIA." They whisper, "Medellín."
This implies that after his family was killed, Alejandro didn't just go to the gym and practice shooting. He went to Colombia. He worked with the remnants of the Medellín Cartel. Why? Because the CIA’s big-picture goal in the first Sicario wasn't to stop the drug trade—it was to restore order.
The U.S. government figured they couldn't stop the drugs, so they’d rather have one predictable Colombian cartel in charge instead of a dozen chaotic, ultra-violent Mexican ones. Alejandro was their "cleaner" to help restore that monopoly. He’s a pawn of the CIA, sure, but he’s also a player for the Colombians. He’s a man with no country, belonging only to the mission of the moment.
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Breaking Down the "Job Description"
If you had to fill out a LinkedIn profile for Alejandro, it would be a mess.
- Former Job: Mexican Federal Prosecutor.
- Current Status: "Consultant" for the CIA / Sicario for the Medellín Cartel.
- Skills: Interrogation (water jugs included), stealth, long-range marksmanship, and speaking five languages with a look that can melt lead.
In Day of the Soldado, we see him go even further off the grid. He refuses an order from Graver to kill a young girl (Isabel Reyes), effectively "resigning" from his CIA contract. By the end of that movie, he’s a total wildcard. He’s survived a bullet to the face and is now training a new generation—starting with the kid who tried to execute him.
What Most People Get Wrong About Alejandro
A lot of fans think Alejandro is a "good guy" deep down because he helps Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) or saves Isabel. Honestly, that’s a bit of a stretch. Alejandro is a man who has lost his soul and replaced it with a very cold, very efficient internal clock.
He kills children in the first movie without blinking. He does it to ensure the "cycle" of the Alarcón family ends. That’s not a hero. That’s a man who has become the very thing he’s hunting. The CIA uses him because they are, in many ways, just as cold. They don't care about his soul; they care about his body count.
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Actionable Insights for Fans of the Series
If you're trying to piece together the lore before a potential Sicario 3, here’s what you need to keep in mind:
- Watch the shadows: Alejandro rarely speaks about his employer because he doesn't have one. He has "arrangements."
- Listen to the names: When someone calls him "Attorney" (Medellín), they are acknowledging his past life and his current lethality.
- Follow Matt Graver: If you want to know where Alejandro is, look for Graver. Graver is the bridge between the "legal" world of the CIA and the "illegal" world where Alejandro lives.
- Understand the "Soldado" Ending: Alejandro is now officially "dead" in the eyes of the U.S. government. This gives him even more freedom—and makes him even more dangerous—moving forward.
The beauty of Benicio del Toro’s performance is that he never lets you feel comfortable. You want to root for him because he’s the protagonist, but then he does something so brutal it reminds you that he’s just a tool used by agencies like the CIA to do the things they can’t admit to. He isn't the CIA, but without the CIA, he'd just be another ghost in the desert.
Study the "diner scene" at the end of the first film again. When Alejandro tells Kate, "You should move to a small town where the rule of law still exists. You will not survive here. You are not a wolf. And this is a land of wolves now," he isn't just talking about Mexico. He's talking about the world the CIA created for him to live in. In that world, titles like "agent" or "officer" don't mean anything. Only survival does.