Embarrassing incident for the CIA. Two agents died in Mexico during a mission without authorization from the neighboring country's authorities
The Mexican Ministry of the Interior announced that two American citizens who died in a road accident, CIA agents according to the American media, did not have authorization to act on Mexican territory, reports AFP.
According to authorities in Mexico City, one of the deceased had entered Mexico as a tourist and the other with a diplomatic passport. The US ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, claims that it is two employees of the embassy.
CBS and other American publications claim that the two were CIA agents. Mexican authorities said President Claudia Sheinbaum “was not informed that foreign agents were operating” in Mexico.
“None of the American agents had special accreditation that would allow them to act on national territory,” the Mexican Interior Ministry pointed out.
Contradictory explanations from the Chihuahua prosecutor
The deaths of the two Americans and two other Mexican officials in a traffic accident in northern Mexico, on the way back from a large-scale operation against drug trafficking, were announced last Sunday by prosecutors.
They had taken part in a raid on six synthetic drug laboratories in Morelos, in the neighboring US state of Chihuahua, which came at the end of a three-month investigation. Their car, which was part of a convoy of five vehicles, skidded and plunged into a ravine.
Chihuahua state prosecutor César Jáuregui initially claimed that Mexican soldiers and members of the state's Investigative Agency were in the convoy, explaining that the American agents were “instructor officers” carrying out training duties.
But on Tuesday, Jáuregui came up with a new version. He said the Americans were holding a drone training course in a town about six hours' drive from where the drug operation took place.
The prosecutor claims that the US agents asked the group of state police returning from the anti-drug operation to “move with the convoy”.
Claudia Sheinbaum's warning
Also Tuesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the federal prosecutor's office is investigating possible violations of national security. “Any activity by U.S. agencies on our soil” must comply with Mexican national security laws and be authorized by the federal government, Sheinbaum said.
Under pressure from the Trump administration, Mexico has in recent months strengthened cooperation with the US in combating drug trafficking and has extradited dozens of drug traffickers to US authorities.
On the other hand, President Sheinbaum does not approve of joint operations and wants to limit cooperation to the exchange of information.
