Mexico charges ex-prosecutor with treason over US agents’ raid

Mexican federal prosecutors have charged former Chihuahua attorney general César Jáuregui Moreno with treason, alleging that he allowed US agents to participate in an April raid on a suspected drug laboratory without the required authorisation. BBC News reported that Jáuregui, arrested over the weekend, denies the allegations and is due at a court hearing on Saturday.

Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos accused him of permitting foreign agents to undertake work reserved for Mexican authorities and of failing to share information. A judge has yet to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed; the charges are not a finding of guilt.

Jáuregui led the attorney general’s office in the northern border state from 2023 until this year. He belongs to the conservative opposition National Action Party, known as PAN.

Fatal crash brought American involvement to light

The Americans’ involvement emerged after a fatal crash on 19 April. A convoy returning from an operation against suspected methamphetamine laboratories in a remote mountainous part of Chihuahua went off the road and into a ravine.

Two US agents and two officers from the Chihuahua State Investigation Agency died, according to officials. US media subsequently reported that the Americans worked for the CIA under an expanded regional effort against narcotics trafficking. Their reported agency affiliation is not independently established here.

At a news conference after the crash, Jáuregui described the Americans as US embassy instructors undertaking training through routine exchanges with US authorities.

Separate state charges and a sovereignty dispute

Jáuregui also faces proceedings in Chihuahua on state-level charges, including abuse of public office. During a Sunday hearing in that case, he denied directing or agreeing to US agents’ participation in the operation.

The federal case comes against a wider dispute over the boundaries of US involvement in Mexican counter-narcotics operations. President Claudia Sheinbaum has faced pressure from US President Donald Trump to act against drug trafficking, while repeatedly rejecting offers of US-led operations inside Mexico.

Sheinbaum’s position is that foreign officials require advance federal approval to operate on Mexican territory. She has maintained that cooperation against narcotics must not breach Mexico’s sovereignty.