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Former Chihuahua Prosecutor Charged with Treason Over CIA-Backed Drug Raid
By Drooid · · How we work
The Treason Charge and Its Legal Basis
Federal prosecutors in Mexico have filed a treason charge against former Chihuahua state attorney general César Jáuregui. Authorities allege that Jáuregui allowed two Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers to join a drug-lab raid in the mountain municipality of Morelos without notifying the federal government. The raid, conducted April 17 – 19, ended when a convoy returning from the operation went off a mountain road, killing the two CIA officers and two state investigators. A federal judge has ordered that Jáuregui face trial on the treason allegation, which carries a prison term of 5 to 40 years. Mexico has not secured a treason conviction since 1867, when the government of Benito Juárez executed Emperor Maximilian.
Background to the Joint Operation
Jáuregui resigned from his post on April 27 after the raid. He was later arrested in October on separate state charges of illegal exercise of public office, and a state judge allowed that case to proceed to trial. President Claudia Sheinbaum recently amended the Constitution to prohibit foreign agents from conducting field operations without federal authorization, and Mexican law bars U.S. agents from being armed. Two additional U.S. agents who survived the crash were subsequently expelled from Mexico.
Official Statements & Responses
“This threatens the sovereignty and integrity of the nation, as it is expressly prohibited by our Constitution,” — General Ernestina Godoy, attorney. The U.S. State Department confirmed it is monitoring the case. After an October hearing lasting nearly nine hours, a federal judge placed Jáuregui in pre-trial detention at the maximum-security Altiplano prison.
What’s Next
A federal judge is scheduled to rule in late October on whether the treason charge will proceed to trial. The outcome could shape future collaboration between Mexican state authorities and U.S. law-enforcement agencies.