Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a press conference Monday at the National Palace in Mexico City she has requested detailed information about a security operation in Chihuahua involving U.S. agents that left four people dead, including two Americans. Photo by Sáshenka Gutiérrez/EPA
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday she has requested detailed information about a security operation in Chihuahua involving U.S. agents that left four people dead, including two Americans, and stressed that federal authorities had not been informed in advance of the plan.
Speaking at her daily morning briefing, Sheinbaum said the operation was carried out by the Chihuahua state government without notifying the National Security Cabinet. She ordered a review to determine whether the action complied with legal frameworks governing security cooperation and national sovereignty.
“We are clear that there is collaboration, there is coordination, but there are no joint operations [between Mexico and the United States],” Sheinbaum said. “Information is shared, particularly intelligence, within a well-defined framework that respects our sovereignty.”
She said the federal government is in contact with the U.S. Embassy and with authorities in Chihuahua to gather details about the participation of foreign agents and local personnel.
“We will provide
“They must have federal authorization for this type of cooperation, as established by the Constitution.”
The incident drew attention after the deaths of the head of Chihuahua’s State Investigation Agency, a subordinate and two U.S. agents as they were returning from an operation targeting suspected drug laboratories.
The Chihuahua State Attorney General’s Office said the crash occurred early April 19 when a convoy of five vehicles was returning from an operation in the municipality of Morelos, where clandestine synthetic drug labs had been located.
State Attorney César Jáuregui Moreno said one of the vehicles skidded and fell into a ravine, triggering an explosion, according to preliminary findings.
The victims were part of the State Investigation Agency and a training program with the U.S. Embassy, Jáuregui said. Those killed included regional director Pedro Ramón Oseguera Cervantes, his bodyguard, Manuel Genaro Méndez Montes, and two instructors linked to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
According to CNN en Español, state prosecutors said personnel from the Strategic Operations unit, working with the State Investigation Agency and Mexico’s Defense Ministry, located and dismantled the drug labs and a supply camp over the weekend.
“It is one of the largest sites found in the country, where chemical drugs such as methamphetamine were produced,” Jáuregui said, adding the facilities were highly sophisticated.
He said the operation was the result of about three months of investigation by state authorities in coordination with the Defense Ministry.
Despite those details, Sheinbaum reiterated that federal authorities had not been aware of the operation beforehand.
