The deaths of two US officers in a drug operation in northern Mexico have raised doubts about the extent to which the Mexican government was aware of Washington's involvement, Sky News reports. The two officers, who were alleged to be CIA agents, died along with two local Mexican investigators in a car crash in the early hours of April 19 in the state of Chihuahua.
In the following days, authorities gave conflicting accounts of how much the Mexican government knew about the U.S. involvement in the operation, which has inflamed tensions between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the White House.
What happened?
The two U.S. officers and two members of the Chihuahua State Investigation Agency were returning from an operation to destroy drug labs in Chihuahua — which borders the U.S. states of Texas and New Mexico — when their vehicle skidded off the side of a ravine and exploded, local officials said.
The Associated Press, citing three sources familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported that the Americans, initially identified as officers at the US embassy were actually from the CIA.
The incident has since fueled heightened speculation about the US role in the Latin American nation, with Sheinbaum previously stressing Mexico's sovereignty and publicly rejecting US President Donald Trump's proposals to intervene against drug cartels.
The Mexican government has acknowledged the presence of US agencies in the country but insists they cannot be involved in operations on the ground.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration provided intelligence support for an operation that led to the death of notorious drug lord "El Mencho", sparking widespread violence across the country.
What was said?
Although Sheinbaum confirmed on Wednesday that the Mexican military was involved in the operation, she insisted that the federal government was unaware of the US presence and that Washington's involvement could therefore constitute a violation of Mexican law.
"There cannot be agents from any institution of the U.S. government operating in Mexican territory," Sheinbaum said during her daily media briefing.
She also indicated that there could be sanctions against the Chihuahua government, saying, "It is very important that something like this does not go unaddressed," Sheinbaum said.
Days earlier, Cesar Jauregui, the attorney general of Chihuahua, said the operation was launched after months of investigation by state prosecutors and the Mexican military.
Sheinbaum ruled out the possibility that the incident was part of a new strategy by the Trump administration, while Mexico's security minister, Omar García Harfuch, later said that despite regular exchanges of information with the United States, foreign "agents have never been on the ground with us".
Harfuch acknowledged that the Defense Department had previously "received a request for security support" from the U.S., but said that "supporting an operation is different from actually participating in the planning of an operation."
White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt disputed the Mexican president's comments in an interview with Fox News, saying that U.S. efforts to combat cartels "benefit not only the American people, but also her (Sheinbaum's) people."
Leavitt called for "compassion" by Sheinbaum, adding that "it would be worth it for the two American lives lost, considering everything the United States is doing right now under this president to stop the scourge of drug trafficking through Mexico into the United States".
Since Sunday's crash, the Trump administration has said very little about the incident, and the CIA has yet to comment.
In January, Trump said that "the cartels run Mexico" and promised action. The US president has repeatedly said that tackling the flow of drugs, particularly fentanyl, into the US is a priority for his administration.