MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum said Monday she will ask U.S. and Mexican officials to explain the circumstances of a weekend crash in northern Chihuahua state, noting that any joint cooperation between local governments and the U.S. without federal permission would violate Mexican law.
The crash, which followed an operation to destroy a clandestine drug laboratory in a rural area, has reignited debate over the extent of U.S. involvement in security operations in Mexico. Scheinbaum, local officials and the U.S. Embassy appeared to contradict and at times contradict each other and provide sparse details about the dead U.S. official, fueling speculation.
“The security cabinet was not aware that this was an operation,” Scheinbaum told reporters. “We were not informed; it was the decision of the Chihuahua state government.”
The move comes at a critical moment in relations between the two neighbors, with Mexico facing escalating pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to crack down on cartels and Scheinbaum underlining Mexico’s sovereignty.
Sheinbaum said her administration would investigate the incident to ensure there were no violations of the law following Sunday’s deaths, adding that state governments must obtain authorization from Mexico’s federal government to cooperate with U.S. and other foreign entities “as required by the Constitution.”
mountainside car accident
Chihuahua State Attorney General Cesar Jauregui said on Sunday that the officials died while returning from an operation to destroy a criminal group’s laboratory. They were driving in the middle of the night through rugged mountains connecting the states of Chihuahua and Sinaloa when the truck “appeared to skid at some point, fell into a ravine and exploded.”
He said the four people who died were two local Mexican investigative officers and two U.S. embassy instructors who were participating in routine “training work.”
The U.S. Embassy declined on Monday to say who the U.S. officials were or which U.S. government entity they worked for, but said the officials “support the efforts of Chihuahua authorities to combat cartel operations.” U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson expressed condolences on social media, but he and other officials gave no details about the incident.
Jauregui said the operation followed months of investigations by state prosecutors and the Mexican federal military, which suggested that Hienbaum’s security forces were at least partly involved. Hours later, Mexico’s security cabinet confirmed that a joint operation by the army and the state prosecutor’s office in Chihuahua state over the weekend dismantled a drug laboratory at the same location in Morelos state.
Prosecutors added that after using drones to locate the lab, officers discovered a large amount of materials used to make the drugs but not any people who may have been alerted beforehand and fled.
Local officials later recanted and clarified to the media that “no U.S. agents were involved in the operation to protect the drug lab” and said embassy officials joined the group after the operation, several hours away from where it took place.
A controversy that has resurfaced
Sheinbaum said her administration would provide more information as more details become available, but insisted on Monday that Mexico had “no joint land or air operations.” She said information sharing between her government and the United States only occurred within a “well-established” legal framework.
While training of Mexican security forces by U.S. officials is common, their presence on Mexican soil has been a source of controversy that has intensified in the wake of Trump’s military actions against Venezuela and Iran.
Trump has repeatedly proposed taking action against Mexican drug cartels, and Scheinbaum said intervention was “not necessary.” The Trump administration has launched a joint military operation in Ecuador, a country plagued by drug gang violence in recent years.
Scheinbaum also alarmed observers last year when he said the U.S. conducted surveillance drone flights at Mexico’s request after making a series of conflicting public statements on the issue.
The most recent controversy came in January when former Canadian athlete Ryan Wedding, one of America’s most wanted men, was detained in Mexico. While Mexican officials claimed he turned himself in at the U.S. embassy, U.S. authorities said his arrest was the result of an operation between the two countries.
The latest collapse comes at a critical moment in U.S.-Mexico relations. The second round of negotiations between the United States and Mexico on the United States-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA) is set to begin in Mexico City. The U.S. delegation is led by Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who is scheduled to meet with the president on Monday.
On the same day, the Trump administration also announced visa restrictions on family members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
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