New Delhi: Mexico has opened an investigation after two US embassy officials died in a crash following an anti-drug operation in Chihuahua state. The crash reportedly occurred when their vehicle veered off a mountainous road and plunged into a ravine. This led to their death, along with two other Mexican officials.
A CIA connection?
Reports are now suggesting that the American officials who died in the car accident may have been linked to the CIA. Although US authorities have not officially confirmed this, the news has stirred a political storm in Mexico.
The county’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government had not been informed about the operation in advance. This has raised concerns over whether national security laws were bypassed or not as under Mexican law foreign agents are not allowed to participate in such operations without federal approval.
Conflicting accounts from local officials have only compounded the issues, as while some reports are saying that the US personnel were directly involved in a drug raid, others maintain that their involvement was restricted to intelligence support and training. The veracity of this, pertaining to the extent of their involvement in the operation, would also determine the egregiousness of their involvement.
Mexico’s President reacts
“We’re investigating what these people were doing and what agency they were from,” said Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president in her daily press conference on Tuesday. “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.”
“There is a great deal of collaboration and coordination [between Mexico and the US], but there are no joint operations as such on the ground,” Sheinbaum further added, also commenting that, “If this investigation confirms that there was a joint operation, then the corresponding sanctions would have to be reviewed.”