Mexico City — Mexico City (AP) – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum She said Monday she would demand an explanation after the deaths of four U.S. embassy and Mexican officials in a crash over the weekend, adding that she was unaware of cooperation between the U.S. and local government in northern Chihuahua.
Sheinbaum said she wanted to make sure no laws were broken after Sunday’s deaths, after the state attorney general said the incident occurred as officers were returning from an operation to destroy clandestine laboratories in a rural area.
“This was not an operation that the security cabinet was aware of,” Sheinbaum told reporters. “We were not informed; it was a decision of the Chihuahua government.” He said that for such cooperation at the state level they would have to receive authorization from the federal government “as established by the Constitution.”
been there Increasing pressure on US President Donald Trump Cracking down on cartels for the Sheinbaum administration. His government has launched Joint military operation in Ecuador.
Chihuahua Attorney General César Jauregui said Sunday that the officers died while returning from an operation to destroy laboratories of criminal groups that were likely used to produce drugs. The four dead were two local government investigative officers and two embassy trainers Jauregui said were attending routine training.
Officials gave some information about the incident. US Ambassador Ronald Johnson expressed his condolences on social media but did not specify the role of his colleagues.
Sheinbaum said more information would be provided once all the details were gathered, but he stressed that “there are no joint operations on the ground or in the air”, only mutual exchange of information between his government and the US, carried out within a “well-established” legal framework.
Sheinbaum said she wanted to set up a meeting between Johnson and Mexico’s foreign minister on Monday.
While US training of Mexican security forces is common, their presence on Mexican territory has been the subject of ongoing debate, which has intensified following Trump’s military actions. Venezuela And iran.
The most recent controversy arose in January over the detention of a former Canadian athlete in Mexico Ryan WeddingOne of the United States’ most wanted fugitives. While Mexican authorities claim he surrendered at the US Embassy, US officials describe his arrest as the result of a binational operation.
Sheinbaum’s comments come as the second round of negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement, USMCA, between the United States and Mexico begin in Mexico City. The US delegation is led by Trade Representative jamison greerWho was to meet the President on Monday.
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