The recent deaths of two American officials in Mexico have set in motion an objection over U.S. intervention and a potential conflict between the first female President of Mexico and the first female Governor of the state of Chihuahua.
As related in a previous article Untimely Deaths of Mexican and U.S. Officials Raises Question of U.S. Intervention for President Sheinbaum, 2 Mexican officials and 2 American officials were killed while returning from an anti-cartel operation. As a result, President Claudia Sheinbaum said that, as reported by the Associated Press, “she would demand explanations over what U.S. and Mexican officials were doing in northern Chihuahua when they died in an accident over the weekend, noting that any joint collaborations between the local government and the U.S. without federal permission would be a violation of Mexican law.”
As it turned out, the two U.S. officials were subsequently reported to be CIA agents.
From The Guardian: “Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, said on Monday [April 27] that her government told the United States, in a diplomatic note, that the unauthorized presence of US officials at an anti-narcotics operation in the northern state of Chihuahua should not be repeated. The incident came to light after two US officials, along with two Mexican officials, were killed in a car crash on 19 April after the operation. Sheinbaum has said the federal government was not aware of the participation of the US officials, who were widely reported to be CIA officers.”
“ ‘What we told [the US] was that the federal government didn’t know about the involvement of these people [in the operation] and we hope that it’s an exception,’ Sheinbaum said in her daily morning press conference.”
“Mexico requested that ‘from now on, as has been done, our constitution and national security law should be followed’, Sheinbaum added, saying that the US had indicated its agreement.”
Also on April 27th, the Chihuahua state attorney general resigned.
From the New York Times: “Amid the fallout, the Chihuahua state attorney general, César Jáuregui Moreno, resigned Monday (April 27), citing ‘omissions’ and ‘inconsistencies’ from his staff that he said failed to inform him that U.S. personnel were present during the drug raid operation that led to the seizure of six drug laboratories.”
Furthermore, it has also been reported that there were 4 foreigners, not just 2, at the operation. A Chihuahua official says however that the 4 foreigners accompanied the operation but did not participate tactically.
There’s a political complication here. The governor of Chihuahua state, the first woman governor of that state, is Maria Eugenia Campos Galvan, known more commonly as Maru Campos. She is a member of the PAN opposition party.
Governor Campos has said that she was unaware of a field operation in her state involving Americans.
The PAN, her political party, supports her.
From La Silla Rota: “The National Action Party (PAN) rallied behind Chihuahua Governor María Eugenia Campos Galván following the controversy generated by the alleged participation of U.S. agents in the dismantling of a drug tunnel in the state. In a statement, the party backed the governor’s position and said it would prioritize providing information to the appropriate authorities before appearing before other bodies…In its statement, the party accused the federal government and Morena of politically exploiting the case instead of recognizing the blow dealt to organized crime. It also criticized Morena governors by mentioning allegations against Rubén Rocha Moya of Sinaloa, Marina del Pilar Ávila of Baja California, and Américo Villarreal of Tamaulipas, while arguing that ‘Morena is not concerned about sovereignty; what bothers them is the blow against organized crime.’ ”
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