Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos asserted on Tuesday that she didn’t authorize or have knowledge of the presence of “foreign people” — i.e., U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel — in a drug lab raid in the northern border state in April.
Her declaration in a video message came as the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) conducts an investigation into the alleged participation of CIA officers in the dismantlement of a drug lab in the municipality of Morelos on April 18.
Ante la desinformación y ataques políticos a propósito del exitoso operativo en la Sierra Tarahumara, donde se aseguraron toneladas de precursores químicos y miles de litros de metanfetamina, quiero compartir con ustedes información importante sobre los avances de la… pic.twitter.com/9iXDiinfvH
— Maru Campos (@MaruCampos_G) May 13, 2026
President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that her government didn’t authorize or have any knowledge of the alleged CIA participation in the operation, which was first reported by U.S. media. She has accused Chihuahua authorities of allowing the CIA to participate in the operation in violation of Mexico’s Constitution and National Security Law. Two of four CIA officers who allegedly participated in the drug lab raid — reportedly while wearing Chihuahua State Investigation Agency (AEI) Uniforms — were killed in a car accident on April 19, along with the director of the AEI and a police officer.
Campos — a representative of the National Action Party, Mexico’s main federal-level opposition party — began her video message by saying that she wanted to speak with the “frankness that characterizes us as chihuahuenses” (Chihuahua natives or residents).
“In recent days there has been a lot of noise, misinformation and political attacks regarding the operation in the Sierra Tarahumara, in which a drug laboratory was dismantled,” she said.
“… Unfortunately, there has also been a lot of misinformation regarding the accident that occurred on April 19, as well as the investigations currently underway. I want to say something very clearly: in Chihuahua we are acting with legality, responsibility, full transparency and absolute resolve,” Campos continued.
The governor went on to say that she has always respected the Mexican Constitution and the laws that emanate from it. She also said that the drug lab operation was “designed and carried out” by people with experience and training in policing and criminal investigation — i.e., Chihuahua police.
“At no point did I arrange, authorize or have knowledge of the presence of foreign people in that action,” Campus said.
Her assertion came the same day that Wendy Chávez Villanueva, a special prosecutor in Chihuahua, said that the four CIA agents who allegedly participated in the drug lab raid twice went to a Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office building before the operation took place. Chávez is heading up a state investigation into the CIA officers’ alleged participation in the raid.
Sheinbaum asserted on April 23 that either the Chihuahua government or the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office requested security collaboration with U.S. authorities before the drug lab raid took place.
Campos takes aim at Morena for alleged criminal links
Campos — who has been accused by Morena party senators of treason and violating Mexican sovereignty — highlighted the results of the drug lab raid in the municipality of Morelos. She said that some 2,000 liters of methamphetamine were seized along with large quantities of precursor chemicals that are used to make narcotics.
“With this [drug lab] dismantling, we prevented millions of doses of drugs from poisoning young people and Mexican families, and we continued our fight against crime and drugs,” Campos said in her video message.
The governor also said: “In response to the attacks I have received from Morena, I want to say that dismantling a drug laboratory and confronting crime head-on as my government has done is not the same as being a government like theirs, one with serious accusations of having ties to drug trafficking.”
The remark was an apparent reference to U.S. prosecutors’ drug trafficking accusations against Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya — a Morena representative and ally of Sheinbaum — and other former and current officials affiliated with Mexico’s ruling party, including a federal senator.
“While Morena attacks, makes excuses and looks for scapegoats to cover up the [security] crisis and lack of results, we will continue doing our job — fighting crime, protecting families, boosting employment and defending peace,” Campos said.
She also said she has instructed the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office to proceed with an investigation into the drug lab operation in accordance with the law, no matter who “falls.”
The governor, who has been in office since 2021, appears confident — in public, at least — that investigations will conclude that she did not act illegally in connection with the alleged CIA involvement in the security operation in Chihuahua, one of various issues that have recently strained the Mexico-U.S. relationship.
Mexico News Daily
