Two Mexican officials and two Americans died in a car accident in northern Mexico, including a member and the director of the Chihuahua State Investigation Agency (AEI).
According to The Washington Post, the two U.S. officials killed on April 19 were agents of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo stated that an investigation will be conducted to determine if the operation violated the country’s national security laws, as she said there was no prior knowledge of the operation. The CIA declined to comment.
According to the newspaper, the officials were returning from a drug raid in Chihuahua as part of the joint fight against drug trafficking between the two countries. The officials had reportedly attended a meeting following the operation to dismantle a clandestine drug lab in a remote area.
Read also: This is how the operation against drug labs unfolded in which the U.S. embassy personnel died; Prosecutor Highlights Magnitude of Discovery
The New York Times also reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the Americans who died in the crash were CIA agents returning from an operation led by the Mexican Armed Forces to dismantle clandestine methamphetamine labs in the mountains.
Eloy García, spokesman for the state prosecutor’s office, told the Times that the American agents were part of an authorized training program to teach their Mexican counterparts how to handle synthetic drugs.
“There’s a misconception about what training and support mean,” John Feeley, who served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City from 2009 to 2012, told the Times. “It’s not just about studying in a classroom. And not everything can be learned in an office environment.”
“What now differentiates these joint operations from similar ones under the Mérida Initiative is the level of transparency with which they are conducted,” Mr. Feeley added, referring to the security alliance between the United States and Mexico. “This is what should be happening: Mexicans leading the operation and Americans contributing the skills Mexico needs, so that both governments can combat illegal drug production in a more professional and legal manner,” he added.
What happened in the accident that killed the head of the State Investigation Agency (AEI) in Mexico?
On Sunday, April 19, four officials were reported dead in a car accident. The vehicle they were traveling in reportedly ran off the road, plunged into a ravine, and exploded.
Their deaths occurred as they were returning from an operation to destroy six clandestine drug labs in the municipality of Morelos, in the southern part of the state, where 100 hectares were seized. It was also identified that two of the deceased were U.S. Embassy personnel.
The Attorney General of the State of Chihuahua, César Jáuregui Moreno, stated that the two U.S. Embassy personnel were conducting “training exercises as part of our regular and routine exchange with U.S. authorities.”
Read also: Two apparent synthetic drug production labs seized in the mountains of Chihuahua; camp with supplies located
He declared that the U.S. employees were conducting training exercises approximately eight or nine hours away from the site of the drug lab raid.
After the raid, they met with personnel from the Chihuahua Economic Investigation Agency, and the accident occurred hours later.
The Washington Post, in its article “Two CIA Agents Die in Crash in Mexico After Drug Raid,” reports that U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson stated that the director of the State Investigation Agency (AEI) and a member of that agency died in the crash, along with two U.S. embassy employees.
“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the risks faced by Mexican and U.S. officials dedicated to protecting our communities, and it reinforces our determination to continue their mission and advance our shared commitment to security and justice, to protect our people,” Johnson wrote.
The Attorney General of Chihuahua said that Sheinbaum’s office was not notified because only Mexican agents—about 40 in total—participated in the seizure of the drug lab, the planning of which took approximately three months.
Did Sheinbaum know about the operation in Chihuahua?
During her morning press conference on Monday, April 20, the Mexican president commented that the federal government had no knowledge of the operation. He asserted that the operation was a decision made by the Chihuahua state government.
He also requested more information from the administration of Governor Maru Campos, a member of the National Action Party (PAN), and stated that an investigation is underway to determine if there was a violation of the National Security Act and also of the United States government.
“She is right, it was never reported that there was any participation of U.S. agents in the operation, because there were no U.S. agents involved in the operation that led to the seizure of the drug lab, perhaps one of the largest ever located. Only agents from the State Investigation Agency and the Mexican Army (Sedena) participated in that operation,” Jáuregui Moreno emphasized.
The Washington Post reports that people familiar with the matter spoke about the role of the intelligence agency in the events in Chihuahua on condition of anonymity, due to the sensitive nature of the issue.
Source: eluniversal
