Mexican President confirms investigation into deaths of two US employees, citing potential national security violations in Chihuahua state incident.
MEXICO CITY: President Claudia Sheinbaum said federal prosecutors are investigating potential national security violations.
The probe follows an incident in northern Chihuahua state that left two US government employees dead.
The circumstances of the deaths and the identities of the two Americans remain unclear.
“We’re investigating what these people were doing and what agency they were working for,” Sheinbaum told reporters.
The US embassy in Mexico only identified the two victims as employees. It stated they had died in a car crash.
Sheinbaum and Mexican officials have said the incident was linked to the country’s violent drug war.
The president said the deaths indicate “that there was a joint operation” between the Chihuahua state government and US agents.
This means federal authorities “will need to consider appropriate sanctions” if US agents were acting without authorisation.
“Any activity that US agencies carry out on our territory” needs authorisation from the federal government, she added.
The president stated that security collaboration between both countries otherwise functions smoothly. “There’s communication, it works very well,” she said.
Mexico has faced intensifying pressure from the Trump administration to crack down on organised crime.
Though officials coordinate operations and share intelligence with US agencies, Sheinbaum has repeatedly said no US agents carry out on-the-ground operations.
