Chihuahua: Silences & Lies

ByLa Jornada Editorial Board

This editorial by La Jornada’s editorial board was originally published in the April 29, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of Mexico Solidarity Media or the Mexico Solidarity Project.

The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has opened an investigation into the alleged involvement of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents in anti-drug operations, in collaboration with the Chihuahua State Investigation Agency (AEI). The FGR explained that it launched the investigation due to concerns about potential national security violations during “the events that occurred in recent days in the Sierra del Pinal region, following the confirmed presence of two U.S. citizens, apparently members of U.S. security agencies, who tragically died along with two other individuals after the discovery of a clandestine open-air drug production facility.”

The federal prosecutor’s action is necessary and even urgent given the mockery of national sovereignty by the state governor, María Eugenia Campos Galván, who refuses to explain her administration’s illegal and potentially seditious ties to the U.S. intelligence apparatus. Instead of appearing before the Senate so that the Mexican people could hear her account of the constitutional violations perpetrated by her government, the PAN (National Action Party) governor created a specialized unit to investigate the case, which in less than 72 hours of existence revealed itself to be a cover-up and a tool for seeking impunity. According to the head of this farce, Wendy Chávez Villanueva, the four (not two, as originally believed) CIA agents who participated in a supposed operation to dismantle drug labs in the mountainous region of Chihuahua were invited by the director general of the AEI (State Investigation Agency), Pedro Román Oseguera Cervantes, who died in the same incident. “Up to the time of the investigations, we have no record that the director of the state agency had requested authorization, or informed his superiors that these foreign individuals would be accompanying him in the convoy,” the official stated.

Besides the poor taste of blaming a dead person, Chávez Villanueva’s statements are patently false and attempt to portray as anecdotal what is systematic: the infiltration of U.S. forces into the Chihuahua government. In this regard, it should be recalled that the state’s Secretary of Public Security, Gilberto Loya Chávez, himself boasted that an entire floor of the agency’s headquarters is designated to serve as a bunker for agents belonging to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations, among others. Furthermore, Loya Chávez expressed hee conviction that federal permits are not required “to cooperate with these agencies on a permanent basis,” which demonstrates a serious disregard for the letter of the Constitution and the Homeland Security Law.

Given this series of inconsistencies and attempts to bury a case of the utmost gravity, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo is right to point out that the investigation cannot be halted following the resignation of César Jáuregui Moreno, the Attorney General of Chihuahua, as it is a matter of upholding the law and the Mexican people’s right to know the truth. As part of this investigation, it is crucial that Campos Galván inform her constituents and the entire country about her motives in opening the state, which comprises more than 12 percent of the national territory, wide open to U.S. espionage—an unacceptable maneuver under any circumstances, and one that takes on the character of treason when the White House is headed by someone who has repeatedly threatened to launch violent incursions against our country.