Mexico seeks to ease tensions over deaths of US officials in car crash

MEXICO CITY – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum sought to de-escalate tensions with the US on April 23 after the deaths of two Americans, who sources say were CIA officers working on an anti-narcotics operation, in a car crash in the northern state of Chihuahua.

The US has acknowledged that two members of its embassy in Mexico City were killed in Mexico on April 19, without disclosing what government agency employed them. The CIA declined to comment on the matter.

Ms Sheinbaum reiterated her condolences in her daily press conference, following criticism on April 22 from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said that “sympathy (for the dead US officials)... would be well worth it” after being asked about Mexico’s demands for more information on what exactly the Americans were doing.

“The first thing I said here in the press conference (earlier this week), and I also expressed it personally to the US ambassador, were my condolences,” Ms Sheinbaum said. “The human aspect is above everything.”

The deaths of the two Americans rekindled US-Mexico tensions over security cooperation. The presence of US personnel in anti-cartel operations is a deeply sensitive matter in Mexico.

Ms Sheinbaum has long maintained that she welcomes intelligence sharing and security cooperation but will not accept US agents or forces participating in operations on Mexican territory.

In contrast, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for greater use of US military force to combat Mexican cartels, and has threatened that the US could go it alone if Washington feels Mexico is not doing enough.

The details of the incident on April 19 continue to be disputed.

Chihuahua’s Attorney-General Cesar Jauregui said the US officials were riding with state-level Mexican officials when their vehicle crashed early in the morning, killing four people.

The vehicle was travelling in a convoy with other state investigators and Mexican Army soldiers returning from an operation to destroy clandestine drug laboratories, Mr Jauregui said.

He later clarified that the US officials did not take part in the raid, but rather were giving a training class on drones in a separate location and were given a ride by the convoy returning from the operation.

That version has come under scrutiny.

Two former US officials familiar with the matter told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the Americans who died in the accident worked for the CIA. The identities of the dead US officials were first reported by Mexican journalist Luis Chaparro.

The Los Angeles Times reported, based on anonymous sources, that there were a total of four CIA officers present at the raid. The officers were wearing uniforms of the Chihuahua state investigation agency, the newspaper reported. Reuters was not able to verify those details.

Diplomatic spat could backfire on Mexican President

On April 20, Ms Sheinbaum said she was not aware of any US officials working with Chihuahua on anti-narcotics work and said her government would investigate whether Mexico’s national security law had been broken.

Mexico’s government later sent a diplomatic note to the US embassy requesting an explanation over the presence of the US officials in Chihuahua.

Security expert Vanda Felbab-Brown said the diplomatic spat with Washington might backfire on Mexico’s President.

“There’s still a lot of people in the administration in Washington pushing for unilateral military action against the cartels in Mexico and this could play into their hands,” she said.

“This could support their argument that trying to work with Mexico is a failed policy and the US needs to go it alone.”

The incident also has caused tensions inside Mexico between the President, who represents the ruling Morena party, and the state of Chihuahua, which is run by the opposition National Action Party. The senate has summoned Chihuahua Governor Maria Campos to discuss the incident.

The CIA has a long history of working in Mexico, particularly on anti-narcotics issues. In 2025, Reuters revealed the agency runs covert operations in Mexico, training and equipping elite Mexican units to capture some of the country’s most wanted drug lords. REUTERS