\n<\/p>\n
Two U.S. officials<\/span> who died in Mexico on Sunday worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, two sources told The Intercept. They are among the first known fatalities of President Donald Trump\u2019s expanding drug war in Latin America.<\/p>\n The American personnel died in a vehicular crash in the mountains of the Sierra de Chihuahua following a drug raid, alongside two Mexican officials, including Rom\u00e1n Oseguera Cervantes, the director of the Chihuahua State Investigation Agency.<\/p>\n The sources said the Americans died after a raid on a synthetic drug lab.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson announced the deaths of the Americans on Sunday, referring to them in a\u00a0post on X<\/a> as \u201ctwo members of staff from the United States Embassy.\u201d<\/p>\n The State Department refused requests for additional information on the Americans\u2019 activities or the agencies that employed them. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said during a Monday press conference that she was unaware of \u201cany direct work between Chihuahua state and personnel from the U.S. embassy.\u201d<\/p>\n Two U.S. government officials who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity said the CIA has been running covert operations in Mexico, working alongside vetted Mexican state-level police forces and other government agencies. The sources said the Americans died after a raid on a synthetic drug lab.<\/p>\n \u201cYou may note that CIA declined to comment,\u201d a CIA spokesperson told The Intercept by email in response to questions about the deaths.<\/p>\n Mexican authorities told the press that the Americans were not involved in the raid, after earlier stating they died following the operation against the labs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trump has turned the Western Hemisphere into a war zone, as part of what he and others have called the \u201cDonroe Doctrine<\/a>.\u201d This bastardization of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine \u2014 which Trump has turned into a unilateral license to militarily meddle in the U.S.\u2019s backyard \u2014 has led to\u00a0strikes on civilian boats<\/a>\u00a0in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean; an attack<\/a> on Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the abduction<\/a>\u00a0of its president; and increased military operations elsewhere in Latin America<\/a>.<\/p>\n Adm. Frank M. Bradley<\/a>, the chief of U.S. Special Operations Command, recently referenced the \u201cperceived increase of U.S. support to counter-cartel operations in Mexico\u201d in testimony<\/a> before the House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations. He said his elite troops \u201cremain postured to provide \u2026 support to Mexican military and security forces to dismantle narco-terrorist organizations.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In a little-noticed move in January, U.S. Northern Command, on Trump\u2019s order, established<\/a> Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, or JIATF-CC, to coordinate U.S. government intelligence \u201cto identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel networks.\u201d Among other things, the task force<\/a> was established for \u201cdeveloping cartel targets for action by USNORTHCOM\u2019s partners and providing direct support to law enforcement.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gen. Gregory Guillot, NORTHCOM\u2019s commander, said then<\/a> that the task force would be operating \u201cvia traditional and non-traditional means to deliver accurate, timely, and relevant intelligence to execution elements.\u201d\u00a0Last week, he told lawmakers<\/a> that the force would \u201cprovide actionable intelligence to the Government of Mexico and federal law enforcement counterparts acting domestically based on leads developed from foreign intelligence operations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTrump has reportedly been pushing for U.S. direct action against drug labs and traffickers in Mexico since his first term,\u201d Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the U.S. Program at the International Crisis Group, told The Intercept. \u201cIn his second term, he now has some officials in his administration eager to do a \u2018Sicario\u2019 \u2014 making Mexico a battlefield in the new GWOT,\u201d or global war on terror, \u201cagainst the narcos.\u201d<\/p>\n Acting Assistant Secretary of War for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs Joseph Humire was unable to tell members of the House Armed Services Committee how many land strikes were being conducted across almost 20 Latin American and Caribbean nations. \u201cI don\u2019t have an exact number,\u201d he replied<\/a> to a question last month. But when asked by Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the committee, if the War Department would \u201cbe moving to a lot more terrestrial strikes,\u201d Humire replied, \u201cYes, ranking member.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump mused last year that he might send U.S. commandos into Mexico to battle cartels. <\/p>\n \u201cCould happen,\u201d\u00a0he said<\/a>. \u201cStranger things have happened.\u201d <\/p>\n Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also\u00a0threatened<\/a>\u00a0military action on Mexican soil.<\/p>\n The Americans died at around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning in the town of Morelos after their multi-vehicle convoy departed from the site of the drug raid. The vehicle reportedly drove off the road and over the side of a ravine, exploding upon impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Americans killed in the wreck in Mexico are some of the first known casualties since Trump ramped up military and CIA operations in and around Latin America last year. A number of U.S. military personnel were injured<\/a> in the U.S. attack on Venezuela in January.\u00a0In February, Lance Cpl. Chukwuemeka E. Oforah, 21, fell off the USS Iwo Jima while it was conducting operations in the Caribbean and was declared deceased on February 10.<\/p>\n The Chihuahua Attorney General\u2019s Office claimed that the Americans in Mexico were only conducting training on drone operations, according to Mexican press reports<\/a>. Sheinbaum said at a news conference Monday that she would ask Johnson, Washington\u2019s ambassador, to meet with Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco \u00c1lvarez to discuss the incident. Sheinbaum has repeatedly said that Mexico will not accept U.S. boots on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s outrageous that U.S. operatives were working to blow up drug labs in Mexico and President Sheinbaum\u2019s security cabinet wasn\u2019t informed of their activities,\u201d said Sanho Tree, the director of the Drug Policy Project at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies.<\/p>\n Last year, the State Department declared<\/a> six Mexican drug cartels \u2014 the Sinaloa Cartel, C\u00e1rtel de Jalisco Nueva Generaci\u00f3n, the Northeast Cartel, the Michoac\u00e1n family, the United Cartels, and the Gulf Cartel \u2014 to be\u00a0foreign terrorist organizations<\/a>. The Salvadoran MS-13 and the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua<\/a> gangs were also named. The designation activates U.S. sanctions, including restrictions on financial transactions and bans on U.S. citizens from providing support to the groups.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
Western Hemisphere Front<\/h2>\n
Over the Precipice<\/h2>\n