Neither DEA nor U.S. Military – Americans Shot in Mexico Were Actually CIA!

The two U.S. Citizens shot in Mexico by Federales were actually CIA agents. Sources tell Mexican Magazine Proceso that the two Americans and the Mexican Navy were in the process of arresting Hector Beltran Leyva, Leader of the South Pacific Drug Cartel and archrival of CIA Cocaine Smuggler Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman. Proceso also mentions that there was a Beltran Leyva informant onboard the vehicle with the two CIA agents and the Mexican Marine Captain. Crime scene investigators discovered AK-47 shell casings at the crime scene, indicating that there might have been drug cartel members onboard the vehicles with the Federales. Were the Federales protecting Hector Beltran Leyva? DeadlineLive.info will continue to follow and report this story.

Reuters

The two CIA officers were just south of the capital on their way to a Mexican Marine base on Friday, working with local authorities on a training mission, when federal police riddled their armored van bearing diplomatic plates with bullets.

The men, traveling with a Mexican Marine captain, were wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment, though their injuries were not life-threatening. Their vehicle’s tires and rear windshield were shot out.

A dozen federal police officers detained and questioned over the attack have been ordered held in custody for 40 days. In initial statements to federal prosecutors, they claimed they confused the Americans for criminals.

However, witnesses who saw the shooting at a bend in the road outside the small town of Tres Marias told Reuters the gunmen were dressed in plain clothes and pursued the Americans firing from unmarked cars and on foot — a classic style of gangland hits in Mexico.

“We had no idea at all they were police. They looked like criminals,” said one woman who witnessed the incident but asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.

A Mexican government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the evidence suggested gang members and corrupt police had carried out the attack before other police arrived at the scene and prevented the men being killed.

“This was not an accident,” the official said.

Witnesses said the CIA driver made impressive evasive maneuvers which likely saved the lives of those inside the car, and they believe they heard hundreds of bullets fired, estimating the incident lasted around six minutes.

The Mexican official said the vehicle was chased for about 4 km (2.5 miles) before it was halted, and that shell casings from AK-47s, which are not used by Mexican police and are a weapon of choice for drug cartel members, were found at the scene.

A total of four vehicles were involved in the incident, though only the shot-up van was found at the scene, the official added. One of the vehicles identified by eyewitnesses has been linked to other crimes, the official said.

Tres Marias is close to the city of Cuernavaca, a popular weekend retreat for Mexico City residents that has been badly hit by drug violence in recent years. In 2009, Mexican Marines shot dead leading cartel boss Arturo Beltran Leyva, alias “The Beard,” in Cuernavaca in an operation based on information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

His brother and fellow drug boss, Hector Beltran Leyva, is thought by some security experts to be at large nearby.

The Mexican official said the rise in criminal activity in the area was very likely being abetted by corrupt police.

“The police here have been heavily infiltrated by organized crime,” said a local man, who declined to be identified.

American and Mexican officials are still investigating the incident and Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales said on Wednesday that an ambush was one possible explanation.

U.S. officials in diplomatic vehicles went over the scene of the shooting on Wednesday, taking fresh evidence under the protection of Mexican Marines.

A separate Mexican official close to the investigation who asked not to be identified said the CIA officers were within a few miles of the Marine base when they were shot at.

The CIA declined to comment on the incident.

One U.S. official familiar with inquiries into the incident said there are a “whole lot of unanswered questions” and that dealings between the United States and Mexico could be seriously affected if Washington concludes a major cover-up is going on.

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