Fatal Crash Exposes Secret Armed CIA Operations Against Mexican Cartels
A New York Times investigation reveals that armed CIA operatives secretly conducted anti-cartel operations in Mexico under President Claudia Sheinbaum until a fatal crash exposed the covert mission.
Under the nose of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, armed CIA operatives spent months conducting secret operations alongside local police in the northern state of Chihuahua, targeting drug cartels, according to a New York Times investigation. The clandestine cooperation was exposed only after a fatal car crash claimed the lives of four people, including two American agents.
The operation began in the autumn of 2025 with the facilitation of Guillermo Zuany Portillo, a local prosecutor and former police commander who had previously lost his U.S. visa over alleged cartel ties. Despite warnings, the CIA restored his visa in exchange for operational access. Zuany introduced American operatives to local police units, ostensibly to train a special tactical unit, but the agents soon began participating in field operations, carrying weapons and tactical gear while wearing local police insignia.
The covert mission unraveled in April, when four CIA operatives joined a convoy of over 60 Mexican security personnel to raid a remote methamphetamine lab in the mountains of Chihuahua. While returning from the mission at night, a vehicle carrying two American agents and two Mexicans plunged off a 90-meter cliff and exploded, killing all occupants. Following the crash, local officials attempted to cover up the American presence by removing agency insignia from the bodies under Zuany's orders.
The exposure infuriated President Sheinbaum, who stated that her federal security cabinet had no knowledge of the CIA deployment in Chihuahua and demanded explanations from the Trump administration. While Sheinbaum has covertly expanded security cooperation with Washington to deter unilateral U.S. military interventions against cartels, federal officials maintained that local authorities exceeded their jurisdiction.
In the wake of the scandal, both Zuany and Chihuahua Attorney General César Jáuregui resigned. Arrest warrants were issued for the two officials; Jáuregui was subsequently arrested and charged with treason for his alleged role in harboring the CIA agents, though he denies knowledge of their presence. Meanwhile, Zuany has fled and remains a fugitive from justice.
