Mexico Charges Ex-Chihuahua Attorney General With Treason, Alleging He Let US Agents Join Drug Lab Raid

Mexican federal prosecutors charged former Chihuahua Attorney General Cesar Jauregui with treason on Wednesday, Oct. 21. They allege he allowed US personnel to take part in an April drug operation in the northern border state without the federal government's approval.

A judge ordered Jauregui held in pretrial detention while the court decides whether there is enough evidence to formally proceed. A follow-up hearing is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, according to the Attorney General's Office.

What prosecutors allege

Federal Attorney General Ernestina Godoy said Jauregui allowed foreign agents to carry out activities reserved for Mexican authorities and failed to share information with federal officials as required. If convicted of treason, he faces five to 40 years in prison.

The operation targeted a clandestine drug lab in the Sierra Tarahumara mountains, in the Morelos municipality area near El Pinal. The raid became public only after a car crash on April 19. Two US agents and two Mexican law enforcement officials, including the head of the state Investigative Agency, were killed when their vehicle went off the road returning from the site.

Anonymous sources told news outlets the Americans were CIA officers working with state police. Mexico News Daily reported that four CIA officers took part. The US embassy declined to comment on the arrest.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said in April that the military "didn't know there were people participating who weren't Mexican citizens." She asked for an investigation into whether state officials respected the constitution and the National Security Law. The constitution requires Senate approval for foreign troops on Mexican soil.

How the arrest unfolded

Jauregui resigned in April. He was arrested Saturday, Oct. 17, on a state warrant for alleged misconduct in public office, with a separate federal warrant for treason. On Sunday, a state judge declined to keep him in custody on the state charges, which include unlawful exercise of public authority and conspiracy by public officials.

That same evening, federal agents detained him again on the treason warrant. He was flown to Toluca on Monday and moved to the maximum-security Altiplano prison.

Sheinbaum defended the arrest at her Monday press conference. "It was very irresponsible, to say the least," she said, criticizing how the operation was carried out. She said state authorities have no power to dismantle drug labs and that ground operations involving foreign agencies are not permitted.

She also said federal prosecutors currently have no evidence tying Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos, an opposition National Action Party politician, to any permission granted to the Americans.

Sovereignty versus results

The charge is rare. Mexican law has no single definition of treason, but it broadly covers acts against the country's sovereignty carried out for the benefit of a foreign power. No widely recognized conviction has been recorded since 1867, when Emperor Maximilian was executed. Prosecutors sought treason charges in 2024 against Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Chapo. That case has produced no conviction, and he is detained in the US.

Matias Gomez Leautaud of the risk consultancy Eurasia Group said the charge "seeks to set a precedent and prevent cooperation between (Mexican) states and the US government without the federal government's coordination and approval." He tied it to a push by the federal Security Ministry to centralize information-sharing with Washington. He also pointed to a political dimension: Chihuahua is opposition-governed and could be a key battleground in the 2027 midterms.

Breitbart Texas, which covers the case from a pro-enforcement angle, argues the opposite reading. Its account says Jauregui is being prosecuted not for corruption or cartel ties but for working with US agencies against cartels, and that the raid dismantled one of the largest drug labs in Mexico's history. It also says officials at all levels praised the discovery when it was announced in April.

The Sheinbaum government's stated position is narrower. It says it is willing to share intelligence and cooperate against organized crime, but US agents and military personnel may not take part directly in operations on Mexican soil.

Both things can be true at once. A lab was reportedly shut down, four people died on a mountain road, and Mexican law says foreign participation needs federal and, for troops, Senate sign-off. What no court has yet decided is whether Jauregui's alleged conduct meets the definition of treason, which the law leaves broad.

The state case and the federal case also sit side by side. A state judge saw no need for custody, while the federal government moved within hours to keep him locked up.

The Saturday hearing will show whether the judge finds enough evidence to move the treason case forward. It will also show whether federal prosecutors name anyone else, since Sheinbaum has said no evidence currently ties Governor Campos to the arrangement.