Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Mexican President Sheinbaum demanded explanations after U.S. officials died in Chihuahua.
- Sheinbaum was unaware of U.S.-Chihuahua collaboration and sought legal compliance assurance post-accident.
- The U.S. Embassy confirmed officials supported anti-cartel efforts, but details remain limited.
MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday she would demand explanations after four U.S. and Mexican officials died in an accident over the weekend, adding she was unaware of collaboration between the U.S. and the local government in northern Chihuahua.
Sheinbaum said she wanted to ensure no laws were broken after Sunday's deaths, which the state attorney general said happened while the officials were returning from an operation to destroy clandestine laboratories in a rural area.
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."
"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."
The accident comes at a time when Mexico has felt escalating pressure from President Donald Trump for the Sheinbaum administration to crack down on cartels. His government has launched joint military operations in Ecuador.
Chihuahua Attorney General César Jáuregui said Sunday the officials died while returning from the operation to destroy labs of criminal groups that likely were used to produce drugs. He said the four who died were two investigative officials with the local government and two U.S. Embassy instructors who were participating in routine training.
U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson expressed his condolences on social media, but he and other officials provided few details of the incident.
Sheinbaum said more information would be provided once all details are gathered, but insisted "there are no joint operations on land or in the air." She said there is only sharing of information between her government and the U.S., carried out within a "well-established" legal framework.
Sheinbaum said she intends to facilitate a meeting between Johnson and Mexico's foreign minister on Monday.
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.
The most recent controversy surfaced in January over the detention in Mexico of former Canadian athlete Ryan Wedding, one of the United States' most wanted fugitives. While Mexican officials claim he surrendered at the U.S. Embassy, U.S. authorities have described his capture as the result of a binational operation.
Sheinbaum's comments come at a pivotal time in U.S.-Mexico relations. The second round of negotiations between the United States and Mexico on the North American free trade agreement, the USMCA, was slated to begin in Mexico City. The U.S. delegation is led by Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who was scheduled to meet with the president on Monday.
That same day, the Trump administration also announced it was imposing visa restrictions on family members of the Cartel de Sinaloa.
