Federal Power Seizes Former Chihuahua Attorney General

César Jáuregui entered federal custody Sunday on a treason charge tied to allegations that CIA officers joined a drug-lab raid in Chihuahua without the Mexican government’s knowledge or authorization. A state court had just ruled he didn’t need to remain in pretrial detention on state charges. Federal agents took him anyway, invoking another layer of the state apparatus.

Agents from the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) detained Jáuregui in Chihuahua city after he appeared in court on charges filed by the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office: unlawful exercise of public office and conspiracy by public officials. They flew him to Toluca, México state, and transferred him to the Altiplano federal prison on Monday morning. If convicted, he faces five to 40 years in prison.

Two levels of authority, one arrest

Jáuregui faced state and federal charges when authorities arrested him Saturday. The judge’s Sunday ruling applied to the state charges, but it didn’t stop federal agents from taking him into custody on the treason allegation. He served as attorney general from January 2023 until resigning in April 2026.

The treason case centers on a raid led by Chihuahua’s State Investigation Agency (AEI). Four CIA agents allegedly joined the operation targeting a drug lab. Two CIA agents and two Chihuahua state police officials, including the AEI chief, died in a car accident after the operation in the municipality of Morelos, in the Sierra Tarahumara.

The Los Angeles Times reported in April that the raid, on the weekend of April 18 and 19, was “at least the third time this year that CIA operatives joined authorities in the northern border state of Chihuahua in an operation against a drug target.” Authorities want Guillermo Arturo Zuany Portillo, former head of the Strategic Operations division of the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office, in connection with the raid, but they haven’t detained him.

The jurisdictional fight

President Claudia Sheinbaum placed most of the blame for the alleged illegal security collaboration on Chihuahua authorities, while also accusing the U.S. government of interference in Mexican affairs. In May, Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos said she hadn’t authorized or known about the CIA’s presence in the state.

Federal authorities said CIA officers’ participation in the operation, if it occurred, would have violated Mexico’s Constitution and National Security Law. The dispute isn’t just about who knew what: federal officials say states can’t exercise powers reserved to the federal government or transfer governmental powers to foreign authorities.

In a video message Saturday, federal Attorney General Ernestina Godoy called the raid an “irregular operation” and “an attack on the federal pact and the separation of powers.” She said the Constitution and National Security Law bar states from taking powers reserved for the federal government or transferring them to foreign authorities.

Godoy said the FGR investigation found that Jáuregui allegedly allowed foreign nationals to operate in Mexico without authorization and carry out activities reserved exclusively for federal forces. “This undermines the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she said, adding that the investigation showed the foreigners’ participation “had no justification whatsoever.”

The state prosecutes its own

Godoy said Chihuahua authorities lacked legal authority to dismantle drug labs, and that the National Security Law expressly prohibits states from doing so. She also alleged that Jáuregui concealed information from federal authorities. “The State Attorney General’s Office, through its head, was required to inform the federal government [about the operation]. It did not do so,” she said.

At her Monday morning press conference, Sheinbaum said Chihuahua’s government didn’t have authority to “dismantle a [drug] laboratory.” “The Federal Attorney General’s Office has that authority,” she said. She called it “very irresponsible” to let foreign agents join a ground operation, and noted that state officials and CIA agents traveled on a dangerous, winding road at night after the raid.

Sheinbaum said the FGR investigation wasn’t finished and that authorities were examining Jáuregui’s involvement in “other matters.” As far as she knew, she said, the FGR had no evidence linking Governor Campos to the alleged authorization of CIA participation. “It’s up to the Federal Attorney General’s Office to clarify,” she said. She also said it was good that the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office was prosecuting an attorney general who broke the law. The agencies and governments now dispute who held authority, who crossed its lines, and who must answer for the operation.