Mexican Prosecutor Who Helped C.I.A. Secretly Operate in His State Flees to the U.S.

What the report says

According to The New York Times, a former Mexican prosecutor, Guillermo Zuany Portillo, has fled to the United States and is under U.S. government protection after Mexican authorities sought his arrest over his role in helping Central Intelligence Agency officers operate in Chihuahua state. The report says Zuany helped facilitate a covert relationship in which CIA personnel trained state forces, accompanied them on counter-cartel missions, and offered operational guidance over several months beginning last year.

The Times said the arrangement became public after a car crash in April killed two CIA officers, triggering a political scandal and Zuany’s resignation. Mexican officials later issued an arrest warrant tied to his alleged involvement with the agency, while federal and state authorities also questioned whether he had connections to organized crime. The article notes that his former boss, César Jáuregui, the former attorney general of Chihuahua, was also arrested on treason charges.

The reporting places the case in the context of tense U.S.-Mexico security cooperation and Mexican concerns about sovereignty. President Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly opposed direct U.S. participation in operations on Mexican soil, and the article says her government has continued investigations into how the CIA operated in Chihuahua. The U.S. government had previously canceled, then later reinstated, Zuany’s visa, according to officials cited by the Times. As of the report, his exact whereabouts in the United States were unclear.