The mystery of two CIA agents’ deaths in Mexico — and what it reveals about America’s shadow war

MEXICO CITY — What began as a well-planned law enforcement operation resulted in the successful takedown of an illegal drug laboratory located deep in the mountains of Mexico’s northern Chihuahua state.

But last weekend’s raid has now become a flashpoint inflaming U.S.-Mexico tensions as authorities on both sides of the border try to explain how two CIA agents, along with two Mexican law enforcement officers, died early Sunday following a counternarcotics attack.

As questions about the incident increased, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that Mexico did not want to “create conflict” with the United States.

But Sheinbaum said U.S. agents participating in a raid without notifying Mexico’s central government would be a clear violation of Mexican laws aimed at protecting the country’s sovereignty. Mexico’s defense ministry was unaware of the raid, officials said, although dozens of federal troops were involved.

Amid often conflicting versions of Sunday’s events, debate continues over a central point: Did CIA personnel actually participate in the raid? Or were they there in another capacity?

The incident comes at a crucial moment when negotiators from Mexico, the United States and Canada are trying to revise the free trade agreement that is the cornerstone of Mexico’s economy.

President Trump, Trump, who has been pushing for direct U.S. anti-drug intervention in Mexico, said Mexico might show “some sympathy” for the agents killed in the operation, his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News.

In fact, Sheinbaum’s first public reaction was to offer condolences for the fallen US and Mexican officers.

Mexico demanded an explanation from Washington’s ambassador to Mexico City, Ronald Johnson, about the US involvement in the incident. Johnson initially refused to comment publicly beyond expressing his condolences over the deaths of two “US Embassy staff” and two officers from the Chihuahua State Investigative Service.

Johnson, himself a former CIA officer who worked at the agency for more than two decades, never publicly acknowledged that the two U.S. casualties were intelligence operatives. However, multiple sources have since confirmed to both the US and Mexican media that the two were in fact CIA officers.

The CIA declined to comment.

On Wednesday, The Times reported that a total of four CIA agents were involved in the raid, marking at least the third time CIA agents have joined Chihuahua state authorities in operations this year.

Two of the four CIA agents died in a car accident after participating in the raid. The other two were traveling in a separate vehicle and were not harmed.

According to The Times, CIA personnel were wearing the uniform of the Chihuahua State Investigation Agency, which directed the operation.

In an effort to defuse U.S.-Mexico tensions, Sheinbaum placed the blame on officials in the state of Chihuahua for what he called a violation of Mexico’s sovereignty.

State officials in Chihuahua have denied any wrongdoing. Mexico’s domestic politics further complicate the dispute: The center-right National Action Party, which governs Chihuahua, is a fierce rival to Sheinbaum’s ruling leftist Morena bloc.

The incident here has raised suspicions of much broader involvement in Mexico by the CIA, an institution long under attack in Latin America for its decades-long involvement in coups, assassination attempts and other covert actions.

“The Trump government’s threats to invade Mexico were realized not with a traditional occupation force, but with a secret war and covert operations,” security expert Víctor Hernández told El Universal newspaper.

Others point to the CIA’s long but secret history, dating back to the Cold War in Mexico.

A trove of documents declassified last year after Trump signed a bill to release records related to President Kennedy’s assassination revealed that several Mexican presidents served as informants for the CIA before or during their terms in office.

Some security experts say CIA operatives are helping Mexican authorities track down some of the country’s top drug lords.

“It’s almost laughable for the Mexican president to pretend to be unaware of CIA activities in Mexico,” said Gilberto Gonzalez, a former DEA agent who worked there in the 1980s and 1990s. “It’s no surprise to anyone.”

But he said it would be difficult for Sheinbaum to accept his government’s knowledge of CIA activities, given that sovereignty is such an important issue here, especially for members of the Morena party.

“He’s a 22nd case, because if he says, ‘Yes, they’re from the CIA and they’re here with my permission,’ then all the Morenas are going to jump down his throat,” he said.

Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, championed laws banning foreign security agencies, including the DEA, CIA and FBI, from acting on the ground without notifying Mexican federal authorities.

Gonzalez said that with the rise of Trump, the CIA and other institutions involved in the fight against drugs and organized crime have become emboldened.

In the past, “the CIA was trying to stay secret in its operations and kind of stay in the background, in the shadows,” he said. In Mexico, he said, the agency focuses mostly on wiretapping phone calls and other espionage.

“Everything changed with President Trump,” Gonzalez said. “The CIA is much more proactive than it used to be.”

According to official statements, the vehicle involved in the fatal crash was part of a five-vehicle Mexican law enforcement convoy returning from a two-day raid on a drug laboratory. He plunged into a valley along a mountain road before dawn on Sunday.

But the two Americans killed were “educators” from the U.S. Embassy and not direct participants in the raid, according to state attorney general César Júaregui Moreno. He said 80 personnel, including state officers and federal troopers, took part in the raid.

Instead, Júaregui said, two U.S. personnel were conducting a drone training exercise in the town of Polanco, a six-and-a-half hour drive from where the raid occurred. Mexican officers returning from the raid picked up the U.S. personnel from Polanco at 2 a.m. Sunday and provided them with a vehicle, Júaregui said. He said it came after the fatal crash.

Special correspondent Steve Fisher contributed to this report.