Mexican president orders investigation into deaths of CIA agents

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has ordered an investigation after two U.S. Central Intelligence Agency agents died in a car crash in northern Mexico on April 19. The Americans were returning from a joint operation with Mexican agents to destroy illegal drug labs: Two Mexican officials were also killed in the crash. Local officials said this was at least the third time this year that cia agents had worked with Chihuahua State Police on similar missions. President Sheinbaum said the Mexican federal government was not informed about the operation and that any such U.S. operations inside Mexico must be approved by Mexico’s national government and not just state officials. Operations like this by the cia are illegal under Mexican law. The extremely high level of American drug consumption and the resultant drug-related violence in Mexico—around 23,000 killings per year—continues to create a multitude of spin-off crises.