"Socalj" for Borderland Beat
The Attorney General's Office (FGR) accuses the former Chihuahua State Prosecutor César Jáuregui Moreno of alleged treason for collaborating and allowing the operation with the CIA. Those charges have not been formally made yet.
On Saturday morning, César Jáuregui Moreno was arrested during a police operation at the intersection of La Cantera Avenue and Periférico de la Juventud, in the state of Chihuahua for the Crimes of Abuse of Public Office and Conspiracy.
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Last week, the Governor of Chihuahua, María Eugenia Campos Galván, stated that there were investigation files against the former prosecutor both in the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) and in the Attorney General's Office of the Republic (FGR) and considered what the now detained former prosecutor did something that "cannot be forgiven" and that "he acted on his own."
Mexican media also mentions another former official, Guillermo Arturo Zuary Portillo, who served as former Prosecutor of Strategic Operations.
The deaths of the two Mexican security agents and two 'members of the U.S. Embassy staff,' was first shared by US Ambassador Ronald Johnson.
President Claudia Sheinbaum had clarified that the CIA officers had entered Mexico legally, but without CIA credentials. The remaining two were asked to leave the country because they did not have the required accreditation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) to collaborate on security matters.
President Claudia Sheinbaum had clarified that the CIA officers had entered Mexico legally, but without CIA credentials. The remaining two were asked to leave the country because they did not have the required accreditation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) to collaborate on security matters.
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 CIA. Two others, including the Chihuahua AEI Director, were killed in the car accident as well.
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| John Dudley Black |
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Lab Bust & Accident
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As authorities of the Attorney General's Office set about dismantling the labs, the Director of the AEI, Pedro Román Oseguera Cervantes, proceeded to return to the city of Chihuahua.
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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 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 stated.
He emphasized that the drug labs and the car accident were two separate incidents in which "there was never any involvement of any foreign agent in El Pinal."
However, the CIA officers were directly involved in deploying drones during the drug lab operation to locate the labs and monitor the take down operation.
The officers donned Mexican AEI uniforms from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, possibly appearing on the ground at the location of some of the labs.
The agency has increasingly shared more intelligence with Mexican authorities and increased training for local counternarcotics units, current and former U.S. officials said. It has flown unarmed drones over Mexico to help track cartel leaders and locate drug labs.
Intelligence provided by the CIA in February was critical in helping Mexican authorities locate "El Mencho.” His identity was believed to have been confirmed via drone footage.
“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 stated.
He emphasized that the drug labs and the car accident were two separate incidents in which "there was never any involvement of any foreign agent in El Pinal."
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However, the CIA officers were directly involved in deploying drones during the drug lab operation to locate the labs and monitor the take down operation.
The officers donned Mexican AEI uniforms from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, possibly appearing on the ground at the location of some of the labs.
The agency has increasingly shared more intelligence with Mexican authorities and increased training for local counternarcotics units, current and former U.S. officials said. It has flown unarmed drones over Mexico to help track cartel leaders and locate drug labs.
Intelligence provided by the CIA in February was critical in helping Mexican authorities locate "El Mencho.” His identity was believed to have been confirmed via drone footage.
Political Fallout
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would demand explanations after the two U.S. and two Mexican officials died in an accident over the previous weekend.
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 president said at the time that her office had been unaware that state officials in Chihuahua and the US government were collaborating independently.
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 president said at the time that her office had been unaware that state officials in Chihuahua and the US government were collaborating independently.
“The relationship is federal, not state,” Sheinbaum said. “They must have authorization from the federal government for this collaboration, which necessarily takes place at the state level, as established by the Constitution.”
Soon after, Chihuahua Governor María Eugenia Campos ordered the creation of a unit to investigate the case.
On April 27, special prosecutor Wendy Chávez said there were indications that the director of Chihuahua’s state security agency, who died in the car crash, had “possible unofficial collaboration” with the US agents and did not inform his superiors that they would be taking part in the operation.
That day, César Jáuregui resigned from his position as Attorney General of Chihuahua. He acknowledged inconsistencies in the information initially shared by state authorities, as well as omissions in the control and communications within the State Attorney General's Office.
May 4, the FGR reported on the summons to testify for almost 50 people who participated in the operation that resulted in the seizure of the drug labs in Chihuahua.
President Sheinbaum revealed on May 27 that they requested the expulsion of the remaining two CIA agents who participated in the discovery of the drug lab in the municipality of Morelos, in Chihuahua.
César Jáuregui Moreno appeared on June 2 as a witness in the case.
Now, according to the federal prosecutor, César Jáuregui Moreno allegedly committed the crime of treason because he allowed foreign nationals to intervene without authorization in national territory and participate in actions that correspond exclusively to federal forces.
“This violates the sovereignty and integrity of the nation, as it is expressly prohibited by our Constitution,” he argued.
“This violates the sovereignty and integrity of the nation, as it is expressly prohibited by our Constitution,” he argued.
Centinela Security Tower
Chihuahua’s Secretary of Public Security, Gilberto Loya, just days before the accident, announced that one of the top floors of the Centinela Tower, the headquarters of Chihuahua’s Secretariat of Security, would be allocated for offices of the FBI, the DEA, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)with the aim of improving coordination and information sharing, a stance that has since shifted following the discovery of CIA officers operating with state authorities.
“Nothing has been finalized yet, but yes, that was indeed supposed to be the idea,” Adrián Eduardo Chavira, Undersecretary for the Centinela Platform, told MILENIO.
Gilberto Loya sidestepped confirming the stationing of U.S. agencies within the tower, limiting his remarks to stating that all operations are being conducted in strict accordance with established coordination protocols.
“The key issue here is collaboration—as the President [Claudia Sheinbaum] herself stated: ‘Collaboration is a legal practice,’ provided that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is represented in all our meetings. This applies to all working groups—since we operate under the Border Security Protocol program—which include the participation of all relevant authorities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs among them,” he replied when questioned on the matter, before abruptly taking his leave.
Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos sought to transform the Torre Centinela (Sentinel Tower) into a security operations hub equipped with over 10,000 cameras.
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