Medellin, Colombia – Chihuahua Attorney General César Jáuregui resigned Monday after two CIA agents were killed in a car crash in Mexico on April 19.
At a press conference announcing his resignation on Monday, Jáuregui acknowledged there had been “omissions” regarding the presence of U.S. agents in the country.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum previously ordered an investigation into why U.S. agents, who appear to have cooperated with local authorities, came to Mexico.
The two spies were returning from a drug raid in Chihuahua’s El Pinal region with Mexican security forces when the deadly clash occurred.
After the crash, Sheinbaum said, “They were not officially certified to participate in operational activities and one of them entered the country as a tourist.”
Attorney General Jáuregui initially claimed that U.S. agents were conducting drone training in the mountains of Chihuahua and happened to board a police convoy.
President Donald Trump has long called for U.S. involvement in anti-drug operations in Mexico, but while Sheinbaum welcomes intelligence sharing, he has opposed the U.S. military or agents participating in domestic security operations.
President Trump threatened that if the United States determines Mexico’s anti-cartel efforts are insufficient, the United States could “go it alone.”
Jáuregui is not the only Mexican official under investigation for his involvement in covering up the unregulated presence of CIA agents. Chihuahua state Governor Maru Campos was scheduled to meet with the republic’s Senate on Tuesday to sort out unknown details about the presence of CIA agents in Mexico.
She had to describe her level of participation in the operation, whether she had formal or informal agreements with U.S. agencies, the extent of her knowledge of the Mexican federal government, and whether she was likely to exchange sensitive information.
But on Tuesday Campos announced that he would not attend the meeting in order to “at all times prevent information of a classified or classified nature from being compromised and ensure the proper development of ongoing proceedings.” She also reiterated that her actions “have always been guided by the principles of legality and transparency.”
The deaths of the two agents and the circumstances surrounding them have heightened tensions between Mexico and Washington, but Sheinbaum emphasized at his daily news conference Tuesday that he did not want “conflict” between the two countries.
Featured image caption: Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
Feature Image Credit: On^ste82 via Wikimedia Commons
