HomeNewsBriefUS Agents Attacked in Mexico Were CIA
BRIEF

US Agents Attacked in Mexico Were CIA

MEXICO / 31 AUG 2012 BY EDWARD FOX EN

A leaked report in Mexico affirms that the US officials attacked by Mexican Federal Police last week were CIA agents, something that has since been confirmed to InSight Crime.

Writing for El Universal, Mexican journalist Carlos Loret de Mola claimed on August 28 that he had been privy to a confidential report confirming that the two US officials injured after Mexican Federal Police opened fire on their armored Toyota SUV in Morelos state on August 24 were in fact Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials.

A high level intelligence source has since confirmed to InSight Crime that the men were CIA personnel.

The document seen by Loret de Mola is reportedly based on testimony by the injured agents, who were supervising a training course for Mexican Navy officers at a base in Xalatlaco, Mexico State, near where the attack took place. It confirms that five vehicles were involved in the attack instead of four, contrary to initial reports.

InSight Crime Analysis

Notably, while US agencies the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Pentagon, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) all denied that their personnel was among those injured, a CIA spokesowman did not issue an outright denial, and instead referred inquiries to the State Department, reported the Washington Post. These latest revelations also contradict a Proceso report based on an anonymous source that claimed the injured agents were DEA.

CIA presence in Mexico increased last year after the US deployed more agents south of the border to work alongside Mexican military officials in the fight against drug trafficking organizations.

The fact that the injured agents were CIA could foster more conspiracy theories about why and how the attack took place the way it did. The incident is already likely to be highly scrutinized since it is clearly an embarrassing episode for the Mexican government, and has (unsurprisingly) prompted President Felipe Calderon to issue a public apology. The US ambassador to Mexico, Anthony Wayne, has announced that the US will work with Mexico to investigate the 12 federal police currently being held for their part in the attack. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

EL SALVADOR / 15 FEB 2022

MS13 members seeking to escape the gang's strongholds in Central America, or disappear off the radar, often flee to Mexico.

ELITES AND CRIME / 11 NOV 2021

The disgraced former governor of Chihuahua, César Duarte, may soon be on a flight home. A US judge approved his…

JALISCO CARTEL / 4 APR 2022

Sixteen police officers have been killed in Zacatecas in the first quarter of 2022, another grim reminder of the soaring…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…