Mexican politicians demanded answers from their government on Wednesday after reports that two Americans wounded when federal police opened fire on a US embassy car were working for the CIA.
The US and Mexican governments have said little about the victims’ work since last week’s shooting, a silence that has put a spotlight on the growing, but often secretive US role in Mexico’s brutal drug war.
The left-wing opposition Democratic Revolution Party said it would summon government officials to a Senate hearing in order to clarify the murky role of the US CIA in Mexico.
“We will ask for a hearing with the public security minister, the foreign minister and the navy to find out what CIA agents are doing in Mexico and why they are fighting each other,” Senator Mario Delgo told MVS radio.
Washington works closely with Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s government against drug smuggling under the US$1.6 billion Merida Initiative, providing training for law enforcement officials and equipment, including Black Hawk helicopters.
After days of feverish speculation here about who the wounded Americans were working for, the New York Times reported Wednesday that the pair were employed by the CIA as part of an anti-drug task force.
However, the Mexican daily El Universal, citing a confidential official report, said they were CIA agents who supervise instructors at a navy shooting range.
The CIA and Mexican foreign ministry declined to comment. Calderon voiced regret over the incident on Tuesday and pledged an exhaustive investigation.
A US State Department spokesman would only say on Tuesday that the two were US government employees working on “law enforcement cooperation.” The pair were repatriated to the US over the weekend.
According to official accounts, the two were driving with a Mexican navy captain to a military training facility south of Mexico City on Friday when federal police shot at their armored US embassy car.
Authorities are holding 12 police officers over the shooting as prosecutors mull charges against them.
Unnamed US officials told the Times that there was no evidence so far that the unidentified Americans were targeted because of their affiliation.
Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, a member of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, had already raised questions about the CIA’s presence on Tuesday.
Analysts say the number of US security officials in Mexico has soared since Calderon launched an anti-drug offensive in 2006. More than 50,000 people have died since Mexican troops were deployed against the cartels.
However, Calderon has refused to disclose the number of US law enforcement agents in Mexico. Under Mexican law, foreign agents or soldiers are forbidden from taking part in operations or carrying weapons in the country.
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