Mexico said two U.S. federal agents killed in a car crash in northern Mexico were not authorized to take part in operations on Mexican territory, raising questions about what role—if any—U.S. intelligence personnel were playing in the incident.
In a statement Saturday, Mexico’s Ministry of Security said one of the U.S. agents entered Mexico as a visitor while the other entered with a diplomatic passport. The ministry said it was not aware of foreign agents operating or planning to participate in an operation in Mexico, and it said it was reviewing the case with local authorities and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
The crash occurred last weekend, when local officials said the agents were traveling as part of a convoy. Mexico’s security ministry did not provide details of the crash beyond its legal and procedural assertions, but the account from local officials described the car driving off a ravine and exploding. Two Mexican officers also died in the incident, according to officials quoted earlier by the Associated Press.
The Associated Press reported earlier that the two Americans killed were from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The AP said the CIA agents were returning from destroying a clandestine drug lab in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, though it said the role of the two CIA agents in the broader circumstances remained unclear.
The CIA declined to comment, the Associated Press reported. The reporting also described that the Americans killed had been identified with help from a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of intelligence information.
In Saturday’s statement, Mexico’s security ministry said, “Mexican law is clear: it does not permit the participation of foreign agents in operations within the national territory.” The ministry added, “The Government of Mexico reiterates its willingness to maintain a close, serious, and respectful relationship with the Government of the United States for the benefit of the security of both countries.”
The statements from Mexico’s government and its leaders have differed over the past week. Officials from both Mexico and the United States have offered contradictory accounts about whether foreign forces were involved, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledging on Wednesday that federal forces were involved after Mexico’s government earlier said it had no knowledge of any operation or U.S. involvement.
A statement that Mexico’s security ministry had no knowledge of foreign agents operating or planning to participate, and its assertion that foreign agents were not authorized to participate in operations on Mexican soil, followed the earlier sequence of responses as investigators and diplomats sought to reconcile what happened before and after the crash in Chihuahua.
The case continued to underscore the sensitivity around cross-border intelligence work and how quickly such incidents can become a diplomatic dispute, even as Mexico’s ministry said it was still reviewing the matter with local authorities and the U.S. Embassy.