A tragic highway accident in Mexico last weekend resulted in the deaths of two U.S. officials, as well as a senior Mexican law enforcement officer and his bodyguard.
On Sunday evening, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson shared the news on social media, identifying the deceased as the director of the Chihuahua State Bureau of Investigation and an employee of the AEI. In his statement, he expressed heartfelt condolences and acknowledged the dangers tied to their important work.
While specifics about the accident were not disclosed by the ambassador, details from the Chihuahua state attorney general’s office revealed that the individuals were part of a police convoy returning from inspecting the site of an assault on a clandestine lab in rural Chihuahua.
According to Mexican authorities, AEI director Pedro Ramon Oseguera Cervantes and his bodyguard lost control of their vehicle, which went off a cliff while they were returning from the attack site. It’s unclear how many U.S. officials were with them, and officials didn’t specify if one or multiple vehicles went off the cliff. They did confirm that several people sustained various injuries.
In the days leading up to the incident, Mexican authorities carried out multiple raids in the mountainous regions of Chihuahua, uncovering at least two separate labs linked to cartel operations for methamphetamine production. Law enforcement deployed a drone to locate the lab, which is among the largest ever found. Even though it was situated in a remote area near Morelos, Chihuahua, each facility spanned several hundred square yards and was capable of producing substantial amounts of crystal meth. To hide their activities, cartel members had covered the lab with a tarpaulin and used nearby bushes for concealment.
