Two CIA Officers Among Four Dead in Chihuahua Car Accident, Sheinbaum Denies Knowledge of Joint Ground Operations

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

According to the Washington Post, citing two unnamed sources; the two U.S. embassy officials who died in an automobile accident in northern Mexico worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Two others, including the Chihuahua AEI Director, were killed in the car accident as well.

The officials were returning from an operation in which they shut down six synthetic drug labs belonging to the Sinaloa Cartel.

Mexican media outlets have recently reported the identities of the two CIA officers on Tuesday, April 21 as 44 year old John Dudley Black, and 36 year old Richard Leiter Johnston. Their bodies had been handed over to the US Consulate in Juarez, Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday she would demand explanations after the two U.S. and two Mexican officials died in an accident over the weekend, adding she was unaware of collaboration between the U.S. and the state government in northern Chihuahua.

Claudia Sheinbaum said more information would be provided once all details are gathered, but insisted that “there are no joint operations on land or in the air,” only mutual sharing of information between her government and the U.S., carried out within a well-established legal framework.

The U.S. Embassy on Monday had declined to identify who the U.S. officials were or which agency of the U.S. government they worked for, but said the officials were "supporting Chihuahua state authorities' efforts to combat cartel operations." The CIA has also declined to comment.

People familiar with the matter discussed the spy agency’s role in the events in Chihuahua on the condition of anonymity, because of the issue’s sensitivity. Under CIA Director John Ratcliffe, the agency has taken a larger, more aggressive role in counternarcotics, one of Trump’s top priorities upon assuming office.

This morning, a tribute to the killed AEI agents was held.

Sheinbaum Denies Knowledge of US Involvement

“It was not an operation that the security cabinet was aware of,” Sheinbaum told journalists. “We were not informed; it was a decision by the Chihuahua government." She said they must have authorization from the federal government for such collaboration at the state level "as established by the Constitution."

“We were unaware of any direct collaboration between the State of Chihuahua and personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico. We are requesting all the information from the Government of Chihuahua and also from the Government of the United States, and reviewing whether there is any violation of the National Security Act,” the President of Mexico stated.

Sheinbaum reported that the Federal Government will review whether the presence of U.S. agents in the operation constituted a violation of the National Security Act, and specified that the Constitution establishes that any collaboration between U.S. agencies and state authorities requires federal authorization.

There has been escalating pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump for the Sheinbaum administration to crack down on cartels. His government has launched joint military operations in Ecuador.

Officials provided few details about the incident. U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson expressed his condolences on social media but didn't specify his colleagues' roles.

The U.S. Embassy on Monday declined to identify who the U.S. officials were or which entity of the U.S. government they worked for, but said the officials were "supporting Chihuahua state authorities' efforts to combat cartel operations."

While U.S. officials' training of Mexican security forces is common, their presence on Mexican territory has been the subject of ongoing debate, which has intensified after Trump's military actions in Venezuela and Iran.

Recent CIA Activity in Mexico

It has been widely reported that the CIA has shared more intelligence with Mexican anti drug units and increased training for local counternarcotics units, current and former U.S. officials said. The CIA has flown unarmed drones over Mexico to help track cartel leaders and locate illicit drug labs.

Intelligence provided by the CIA in February was critical in helping Mexican authorities locate "El Mencho," according to U.S. officials.

Most recently and notably was the use of a US drone to track and monitor CJNG leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes "El Mencho" prior to the raid on the Tapalpa Country Club area resulting in his death and numerous narco blockades and targeted killings of GN troops across Mexico.

Jáuregui, the Attorney General in Chihuahua, said Sheinbaum’s office was not notified prior of the US officials presence at the lab operation because, according to him, only Mexican agents, about 80 in all, participated in the seizure of the drug labs. The two Mexican agencies involved were the Chihuahua AEI and SEDENA.

However, multiple social media posts have mentioned the Americans had been present and had donned Chihuahua state uniforms. According to Luis Chaparro and Azenuca Uresti, there had actually been four CIA officers present. The team had been in Mexico for several months, likely predating the start of the investigation into the large drug lab. 

Based in Chihuahua but operating throughout Mexico, according to Azenuca Uresti, they had operated without the knowledge of the federal Mexican government.

Jáuregui, on Monday insisted once again that the agents were conducting a drone operation course, intended to train the AEI, but that it was 6 hours away from the area where the operation was carried out to dismantle one of Mexico's largest drug labs.

Sinaloa Cartel Meth Lab Operation

The operation to locate and dismantle the labs spanned around three months of investigation by state and federal officials. The labs (believed to be six in total, but only two have been officially reported) was located using CIA drones. “The operation lasted two days, due to the size of the find and the transfers that had to be made to the community; the distances are enormous,” Jauregui commented.

Officials found tons of material to manufacture drugs but no people present. They were likely alerted during or before the raid and fled, meaning there was no confrontation at the labs. AEI provided photos do not show any evidence of a firefight or issues at the labs.

In the early morning of April 19, 2026, the two American CIA agents assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico were killed along with the head of the Chihuahua State Investigation Agency (AEI), Pedro Oseguera, and his subordinate, Genaro Méndez Montes, on a stretch of the Sierra Tarahumara highway connecting the municipality of Morelos with Guachochi.

Jáuregui said the convoy of U.S. and Mexican officials died as they were driving in the middle of the night through rugged mountain territory connecting Chihuahua to the state of Sinaloa, when the truck "appears to have skidded at some point and fell into a ravine, exploding."

He added that, once the scene of the crime was located and secured, and placed at the disposal of the authorities of the Attorney General's Office, the Director of the AEI, Pedro Román Oseguera Cervantes, proceeded to return to the city of Chihuahua.

“He was traveling in a convoy of five vehicles, and in the community of Polanco, which is approximately six and a half hours from El Pinal, the director met with instructors from the US Embassy, ​​who were in Polanco giving a course on drone operation (…) they had a flight on Sunday morning from the city of Chihuahua and asked for assistance to travel along with the convoy in which the Director was traveling. They got into the vehicle at approximately two in the morning, and suffered the accident in which they lost their lives when it went off the road into one of the ravines in the area,” the Prosecutor lamented.

He emphasized that these are two separate incidents in which "there was never any involvement of any foreign agent in El Pinal."

Sources AP News, Washington Post, Azenuca Uresti, Borderland Beat, FGE Chihuahua, El Diario

Categories: chihuahua, cia, Claudia Sheinbaum, sinaloa cartel