Mexico arrests state official accused of allowing unauthorized CIA role in drug raid

Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters/File

Months after a deadly car wreck revealed the CIA’s participation in a raid on a Chihuahua drug lab, authorities arrested César Jáuregui, Chihuahua’s former attorney general, for allegedly allowing US spies to participate in the operation without permission from the Mexican government.

Gilberto Loya Chávez, the acting head of the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office, said in a video message that Jáuregui is under investigation for unlawful exercise of public service and conspiracy by public officials. Jáuregui is due to appear before a judge, Loya Chávez added, but did not say when.

The arrest, the official explained, came after the Attorney General’s Office concluded that there had been misconduct in an April operation in which state officials dismantled a clandestine drug-manufacturing laboratory.

The CIA’s participation came to light soon after the raid on April 19. That day, while he was still attorney general, Jáuregui himself announced that four people had died in a car crash as they were returning from a drug raid in northern Chihuahua: two Mexican law enforcement officials and two Americans, whom he identified as instructors from the US Embassy in Mexico City.

Days later, CNN and other media outlets revealed that the two Americans were not just embassy workers: they were CIA agents. The agency has significantly expanded its clandestine anti-cartel operations in the country during Trump’s second term – including assassinations of alleged cartel members and drone flights over Mexican territory.

On Saturday, Loya Chávez was careful to say that the issue at hand was not the drug raid itself, but rather the participation of US officials outside the bounds of Mexican law.

Attorney General’s Office of Chihuahua/Reuters

US officials killed in Mexico car crash following drug raid worked for the CIA, sources say

“This action does not disregard the work of the State Investigation Agency, the State Attorney General’s Office, or the Armed Forces in dismantling the clandestine laboratory, because it is of course a very significant result in the fight against organized crime,” Loya Chávez said. “What is being investigated is the way this operation was conducted, the failure to observe the chain of command and the applicable protocols.”

“A good result does not justify breaking the law,” the official added.

CNN has contacted Jáuregui’s office to find out whether he already has legal representation and whether he has entered a plea.

The presence of CIA agents in the operation incensed the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, which took Chihuahua authorities to task for failing to give prior notice and coordinate with their federal counterparts, as required by Mexican law. Sheinbaum has insisted ever since that the situation had to be investigated to determine whether any crime had been committed.

The president said at the time that her office had been unaware that state officials in Chihuahua and the US government were collaborating independently.

“The relationship is federal, not state,” Sheinbaum said. “They must have authorization from the federal government for this collaboration, which necessarily takes place at the state level, as established by the Constitution.”

Soon after, Chihuahua Governor María Eugenia Campos ordered the creation of a unit to investigate the case.

On April 27, in her first report on the matter, special prosecutor Wendy Chávez said there were indications that the director of Chihuahua’s state security agency, who died in the car crash, had “possible unofficial collaboration” with the US agents and did not inform his superiors that they would be taking part in the operation.

Jáuregui resigned as attorney general that same day, stating that he was accepting “political responsibility” for the tensions the matter had generated.

“There were omissions both in the information provided and in the institutional handling of the points of contact with these individuals,” he said.

Until his arrest on Saturday, Jáuregui had been seeking the conservative National Action Party nomination for mayor of Chihuahua, the state’s capital.

Jose Luis Gonzalez/路透社/档案照片

在一次致命车祸揭露了中央情报局参与突袭奇瓦瓦州一处毒品实验室的行动数月后，当局逮捕了奇瓦瓦州前总检察长塞萨尔·豪雷吉，指控他未经墨西哥政府许可，允许美国间谍参与此次行动。

奇瓦瓦州总检察长办公室代理主任吉尔伯托·洛亚·查韦斯在一段视频讲话中表示，胡雷吉因涉嫌滥用职权和公职人员串谋罪正在接受调查。洛亚·查韦斯补充说，胡雷吉将被传唤出庭，但没有透露具体时间。

这位官员解释说，此次逮捕行动是在司法部长办公室得出结论，认为州政府官员在四月份捣毁一个秘密制毒实验室的行动中存在不当行为之后进行的。

4 月 19 日突袭行动后不久，中央情报局的参与就被曝光。当天，时任总检察长的豪雷吉亲自宣布，四人在从奇瓦瓦州北部的一次缉毒行动返回途中遭遇车祸身亡：两名墨西哥执法人员和两名美国人，他称这两名美国人是美国驻墨西哥城大使馆的教官。

几天后，CNN和其他媒体披露，这两名美国人并非大使馆工作人员，而是中央情报局特工。在特朗普的第二个任期内，中央情报局大幅扩大了在墨西哥的秘密反贩毒集团行动，包括暗杀涉嫌贩毒集团成员以及在墨西哥领空进行无人机飞行。

周六，洛亚·查韦斯谨慎地表示，当前的问题不是缉毒行动本身，而是美国官员在墨西哥法律范围之外的参与。

奇瓦瓦州检察长办公室/路透社

消息人士称，在墨西哥缉毒行动后发生的车祸中丧生的几名美国官员曾为中央情报局工作。

洛亚·查韦斯表示：“此次行动并非否定国家调查局、州检察长办公室或武装部队在捣毁秘密实验室方面所做的工作，因为这当然是打击有组织犯罪的一项非常重要的成果。我们正在调查的是此次行动的执行方式，以及是否违反了指挥链和相关程序。”

“取得好成绩并不能成为违法行为的理由，”这位官员补充道。

CNN已联系Jáuregui的办公室，以了解他是否已聘请律师以及是否已认罪。

中央情报局特工参与此次行动激怒了克劳迪娅·欣鲍姆总统领导的政府。政府指责奇瓦瓦州当局未按墨西哥法律规定事先通知并与联邦政府协调。欣鲍姆一直坚持认为，必须对此事进行调查，以确定是否存在任何犯罪行为。

总统当时表示，她的办公室此前并不知道奇瓦瓦州官员和美国政府官员在各自独立地进行合作。

“这是联邦层面的关系，而非州层面的关系，”谢因鲍姆说。“他们必须获得联邦政府的授权才能进行这种合作，而这种合作必然是在州一级进行的，这是宪法规定的。”

不久之后，奇瓦瓦州州长玛丽亚·尤金妮亚·坎波斯下令成立一个专门小组调查此案。

4月27日，特别检察官温迪·查韦斯在她关于此事的第一份报告中表示，有迹象表明，在车祸中丧生的奇瓦瓦州国家安全局局长可能与美国特工有“非正式合作”，并且没有告知他的上级他们将参与此次行动。

当天，豪雷吉辞去了总检察长职务，并表示他将对此事引发的紧张局势承担“政治责任”。

他说：“无论是提供的信息，还是机构在与这些人员接触时的管理，都存在疏漏。”

在周六被捕之前，豪雷吉一直在争取保守派国家行动党提名他竞选奇瓦瓦州首府奇瓦瓦市市长。