Mexico charges ex-state prosecutor with treason over US agents' role in drug raid
Mexican federal prosecutors have charged César Jáuregui Moreno, the former attorney general of Chihuahua state, with treason for allegedly letting US agents join an April raid without proper authorisation. He denies the allegations.
Federal prosecutors in Mexico have charged César Jáuregui Moreno, the former attorney general of the northern border state of Chihuahua, with treason. They accuse him of allowing US agents to take part in an April raid on a suspected drugs lab without proper authorisation. Jáuregui held the state post from 2023 until this year.
The American involvement emerged after a car crash in Chihuahua that killed two US agents, reportedly working for the CIA (the US Central Intelligence Agency), and two Mexican law enforcement officers.
The allegations
Mexico's Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos said Jáuregui let foreign agents carry out activities reserved for Mexican authorities and failed to share information. Jáuregui, a member of the conservative opposition PAN party, denies the claims. He was arrested at the weekend, and a court hearing is set for Saturday. According to Reuters, a judge must still decide whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed.
He also faces state-level charges in Chihuahua, including abuse of public office. At a hearing on those charges on Sunday, he denied having instructed or consented to the US agents' involvement in the operation.
Political background
US President Donald Trump has pressed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to crack down on drug trafficking, but she has repeatedly turned down offers of US-led counter-narcotics operations. Sheinbaum has insisted that foreign officials may operate on Mexican soil only with prior clearance from the federal government, and that the country's sovereignty must not be breached.
The crash
The accident happened on 19 April, when a convoy returning from an operation targeting suspected methamphetamine labs in a remote, mountainous area veered off the road and fell into a ravine. Two members of the Chihuahua State Investigation Agency died along with the Americans. At the time, Jáuregui told a news conference that the Americans were instructors from the US embassy doing training work as part of normal exchanges with US authorities. US media have reported that the two worked for the CIA as part of an expanded effort to combat drug trafficking in the region.
