Mexico has launched an investigation into a possible breach of its constitution after reports emerged that two US embassy officials who died in a car accident following a drug lab raid were CIA operatives. The incident occurred near Chihuahua, a border state, and has raised questions about the extent of US involvement in Mexican anti-drug operations.
The accident took place early on Sunday when the officials' vehicle skidded off a mountain road and plunged 200 metres into a ravine near the border with Sinaloa. They were returning from a raid on a drug lab alongside local officials. Since then, state authorities have given conflicting accounts of the Americans' role, while President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that neither she nor her cabinet were aware of the operation.
Under Mexico's national security law, joint operations require prior federal approval. Sheinbaum said on Tuesday, “We’re investigating what these people were doing and what agency they were from. So far the information we have is that they were working together [with the state government], and so the attorney general will have to investigate to know if this was in violation of the constitution and the law of national security.”
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Mexico, with Donald Trump demanding tougher action on drug trafficking and Sheinbaum defending national sovereignty. The US embassy has acknowledged the deaths but not commented on the CIA reports. Chihuahua's attorney general initially stated the Americans died returning from an operation to dismantle clandestine labs, but later claimed they only arrived for training after the raid.
Sheinbaum has repeatedly rejected Trump's offers of US troop deployments to combat cartels. However, the CIA has increased its role in the region since Trump designated Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organisations. Intelligence from the agency recently helped locate drug lord “El Mencho”, killed in a Mexican army operation in February. The Sunday incident has now focused scrutiny on whether CIA activities exceed intelligence sharing.
