2 CIA officers killed in Mexico crash lacked proper authorization.

By JAMES WAGNER

The two U.S. officials killed in a car crash earlier this month in northern Mexico while returning from a counter-cartel operation did not have formal authorization for such activities in the country, the Mexican government announced.

In a statement released Saturday, the Mexican federal security Cabinet said that, according to immigration records, one of the two officials entered the country as a visitor — “without permission to engage in paid work” — and the other arrived on a diplomatic passport.

“The government of Mexico, the institutions comprising the security cabinet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were unaware of any foreign agents operating, or planning to physically participate, in any operational activity within Mexican territory,” the statement said.

The New York Times and other outlets reported that the U.S. officials were CIA officers. The two Americans, along with two Mexican officials, were killed early on April 19 when their vehicle plunged off a remote mountain road while returning from an operation led by Mexico’s armed forces to dismantle a large, clandestine methamphetamine lab in the state of Chihuahua, state authorities said.

The deaths of the two Americans have raised urgent questions about the extent of U.S. involvement in the region’s drug war, and which Mexican authorities granted permission — or not — for the two U.S. officials to participate in this recent operation.

The CIA, which has taken on an expanded role in the war against drugs and trafficking groups in Latin America under President Donald Trump, declined to comment.

The Mexican government said Saturday that reviews were being conducted in coordination with local authorities and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.

The Chihuahua governor’s office and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chihuahua attorney general’s office declined to comment.

Mexico’s national security law forbids foreign agents, including U.S. military and law enforcement officials, from operating in the country without government authorization. U.S. officials working directly with state-level authorities without federal approval would be a breach of the Constitution.

Chihuahua’s attorney general initially insisted that the U.S. personnel were not involved in the antidrug operation and that it was led by Mexican forces. His office said that the American “instructors” went to the scene of the operation only after it unfolded for training purposes, “such as teaching the handling of drones.”