By Redacción
redaccion@latinocc.com
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday sought to defuse a potential diplomatic dispute with the United States after two CIA agents died in an accident in the northern state of Chihuahua, saying she hopes the incident remains an isolated case.
Speaking during her morning news conference, Sheinbaum said Mexico does not want a confrontation with Washington, but stressed that foreign agents must respect Mexican law and sovereignty.
“Let us hope this is an exceptional case … and that a situation like this never happens again,” Sheinbaum said.
The controversy surfaced after Mexican officials said the two U.S. agents were not authorized to conduct operations in the country. Mexico’s Ministry of Security said Saturday that one of the agents entered Mexico as a visitor, while the other entered using a diplomatic passport. The ministry also said it was not aware that foreign agents were operating in Mexican territory.
The CIA has declined to comment.
A U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter confirmed to The Associated Press last week that the two Americans were members of the CIA.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the intelligence issues involved.
The case has also triggered political fallout in Chihuahua.
César Jáuregui Moreno, the head of the state prosecutor’s office, resigned Monday night after telling reporters days earlier that the Chihuahua state government had worked with U.S. agents on an operation.
He later walked back those comments after pressure from Sheinbaum.
Chihuahua Gov. María Eugenia Campos, a prominent opposition figure, has been called to testify Tuesday in Mexico City along with Jáuregui.
Sheinbaum said the details of the operation in Chihuahua must be clarified and urged the Attorney General’s Office and other relevant authorities to take action after an upcoming Senate debate on the case.
The incident comes after Mexico and the Trump administration reached an agreement last year to coordinate security efforts and exchange information while respecting the sovereignty of both countries.
Security cooperation between Mexico and the United States has long been complicated by concerns over sovereignty and the presence of U.S. agencies inside Mexico. The CIA and the DEA have operated in sensitive areas of bilateral security policy for decades, but their activities often become public only when incidents occur.
One of the most notable cases came in 2012, when a U.S. Embassy vehicle was shot at on the outskirts of Mexico City, wounding two CIA agents.
COLOMBIA
A surge of rebel attacks in southwestern Colombia has heightened concerns over security just weeks before the country’s May presidential election, where crime and the government’s handling of armed groups are expected to be among the most important issues for voters.
Colombia’s Defense Ministry said rebel groups have carried out 26 attacks with explosives and drones since Friday, targeting civilians and military bases in the country’s southwest.
The deadliest incident occurred Saturday on the Pan-American Highway between Cali and Popayan, where an explosion near a tunnel killed 21 people, according to authorities.
The attacks have renewed fears in a region long contested by illegal armed groups because of its strategic value for drug trafficking, illegal mining and coca cultivation, the raw material used to produce cocaine.
Authorities blamed the deadly highway blast on the FARC-EMC, a dissident rebel group led by Nestor Vera, better known as Iván Mordisco.
Vera is a former member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, who rejected the 2016 peace agreement between the guerrilla organization and the Colombian government.
The 2016 accord was meant to end decades of conflict with the FARC, but dissident factions refused to disarm and have since expanded in several rural areas, especially where state presence remains weak and criminal economies are strong.
Sergio Guzmán, a political risk analyst based in Bogota, said Mordisco’s group may be trying to show it can inflict serious damage and strengthen its position before a new government takes office.
“Part of what they are doing is establishing leverage towards the future,” Guzmán said.
The wave of violence has placed new pressure on President Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla member who came to office promising to seek peace with Colombia’s remaining armed groups through a strategy known as “total peace.”
Under that policy, Petro’s government has offered ceasefires to various rebel and criminal organizations in hopes of moving them toward negotiations. But critics say the strategy has allowed some groups to regroup, rearm and tighten control over rural communities.
“The government’s peace policy has been naïve,” said Javier Garay, a political science professor at Colombia’s Externado University. “They thought that if they had a condescending attitude towards these groups they would receive a positive response.”
Groups like the FARC-EMC have been accused of taxing residents in territories under their control and forcibly recruiting young people.
The FARC-EMC entered peace talks with the government in late 2023. But a faction led by Mordisco abandoned the negotiations in April 2024 and has since fought Colombian security forces.
Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Mordisco’s faction is particularly strong in the provinces of Cauca and Valle del Cauca, where armed groups compete for control of drug routes and illegal gold mines.
Over the past two years, the group has increasingly used drones and car bombs, especially as a response to military operations in the Micay Canyon, a remote coca-growing area under FARC-EMC influence.
Dickinson said the latest attacks appear to be another attempt by the group to show it can continue an “asymmetrical war” against the government.
Security debate intensifies before election
Colombia’s defense minister said Sunday that kidnappings and rebel-imposed lockdowns on communities in Cauca have declined over the past year because of government action.
In a nationally televised address Monday night, Petro defended his record, saying his administration has fought drug trafficking and slowed the expansion of coca crops. He said 258,000 hectares, or about 638,000 acres, were planted with coca in late 2025.
But the attacks have given new ammunition to opposition candidates, who argue Petro’s peace strategy has weakened the state’s ability to confront armed groups. Several opposition figures are expected to campaign on promises of tougher security policies, stricter enforcement and a stronger military response to rebel activity.
For many Colombians, the violence is a reminder that the country’s long conflict did not end with the 2016 peace deal. It changed form.
In areas such as Cauca and Valle del Cauca, communities continue to live between state security operations and armed groups seeking to control roads, crops, mines and local economies. Civilians are often the ones who pay the highest price.
The timing of the attacks is politically significant. With the presidential election approaching, the violence could shift the national debate away from Petro’s social and economic agenda and toward public safety, territorial control and the future of peace negotiations.
The government now faces two immediate challenges: preventing more attacks and convincing voters that its approach to armed groups can still produce security without returning the country to the harshest years of military confrontation.
For the families of those killed on the Pan-American Highway, however, the political debate is secondary. The blast has become another painful chapter in Colombia’s unresolved struggle to bring peace to regions where armed groups continue to hold power.
IRAN
Iran has offered to end its closure of the Strait of Hormuz if the United States lifts its blockade on the country and moves to end the war, according to two regional officials familiar with the proposal.
The offer, passed to U.S. officials through Pakistan, would postpone negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, the central issue that helped trigger the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran earlier this year.
That condition makes the proposal unlikely to gain support from President Donald Trump’s administration. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to rule out any agreement that does not directly address Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“We can’t let them get away with it. We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point,” Rubio said Monday in an interview with Fox News.
The proposal comes as a fragile ceasefire remains in place and as the United States and Iran remain locked in a dangerous standoff over one of the world’s most important maritime routes.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas moves during peacetime.
Any disruption there can quickly affect global energy prices, shipping routes and the broader economy.
Iran’s closure of the strait has placed pressure on the Trump administration as oil and gasoline prices rise ahead of crucial midterm elections.
It has also created problems for U.S. allies in the Gulf, which rely on the waterway to export oil and gas.
At the same time, the U.S. blockade is designed to prevent Iran from selling oil, cutting off one of Tehran’s most important sources of revenue.
The blockade could also force Iran to reduce or halt production if it cannot export or store enough crude.
The result is a standoff with economic consequences far beyond the region.
Several countries renewed calls Monday for an end to the blockade, citing the effect of rising energy costs on fertilizer, food and other basic goods. Higher oil and gas prices can ripple across global supply chains, increasing costs for transportation, agriculture and manufacturing.
Iran’s offer appears aimed at relieving pressure without immediately reopening the most difficult issue: its nuclear program.
Trump has said one of the major reasons for going to war was to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. U.S. and Israeli officials have long argued that Tehran’s nuclear activities pose a direct threat to regional security. Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
