A former Mexican state attorney general could face trial for treason over accusations that he illegally launched a joint operation with the CIA without telling the federal government. The operation to dismantle a drug lab in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico in April drew attention after two CIA agents and two state officials died in a car accident on their way back. That raised questions about the Trump administration's actions on Mexican soil, and outraged President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has made a strong defense of national sovereignty a centerpiece of her administration.
The state district attorney, César Jáuregui, resigned, saying he wanted to clear the way for an inquiry into the operation. He was arrested Oct. 17 on state charges of illegal exercise of public office, which a judge ruled Thursday can go to trial. Federal officials later added the treason charge, and a federal judge will decide Saturday whether to allow the indictment.
Earlier this year, a statement from Mexico's Ministry of Security said one U.S. agent entered Mexico as a visitor while the other entered with a diplomatic passport. "None had formal accreditation to participate in operational activities in national territory," the security ministry said. Mexico has long worked with the U.S. in its fight against organized crime, but that's caused fears at times that American agencies do not respect the country's sovereignty.
Sheinbaum and her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador have made legal changes that aimed to stop foreign agencies from operating in Mexico without the federal government's consent. Héctor Villasana, one of Jáuregui's defense attorneys, said federal prosecutors told the court in a closed hearing this week that they were seeking an exemplary punishment to prevent a situation like the United States' removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. State Department told The that it is aware and watching Jáuregui's case but didn't make a link between the case and the CIA deaths.
Here's how a traffic accident in the mountains of Chihuahua led to a charge of treason - a crime Mexico has not successfully brought to trial in decades despite one recent attempt. On April 19, the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office reported the dismantling of a drug lab in the municipality of Morelos, in the mountains of that state. On the way back, a vehicle in the convoy veered off the road and fell into a ravine.
Two state agents and two Americans were killed. In a news release, the state attorney general's office identified the two Mexican casualties as first commander of the state investigation agency Pedro Román Oseguera Cervantes and officer Manuel Genaro Méndez Montes. The U.S. agents killed were "instructor officers" who "were carrying out training tasks" as part of binational anti-drug cooperation, Jáuregui told reporters at the time.
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