But how would it get through the locks in the Panama Canal without being detected? They are not automatic, someone has to operate them, and in accordance with the traffic demand. And someone has to pay for the trip thru. It said this was a semi-submersible so it should have been visible to the operators of the lock. Maybe someone should ask them about that.
I have no problem imagining the cartel(s) transporting that thing by truck to the east coast of Mexico and launching her.
I have seen rockets, very big rockets on flatbeds going down the back roads. (with DPS escorts) here in the Sonoran Desert. So it ain’t hard to imagine the sub loaded on a flatbed escorted by the Federiales or even the Mexican army.