López Obrador’s scandalous clash with the United States by senior military leader accused of drug trafficking

The government of Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador has launched a scandalous dispute with the United States by politically defending and exonerating the former Minister of Defense at the judicial level Salvador Cienfuegos, accused by the US DEA of complicity with a powerful drug cartel.

The Mexican president not only cleared the 72-year-old former military leader, but also accused US investigators of “fabricating evidence.” << Yesterday the prosecutor's office decided that this was not applicable the accusation brought against General Cienfuegos by the American agency in charge of the fight against drugs, DEA, ”said López Obrador. And he added: “The government that I represent second, approves and supports” this decision.

The attitude of Mexico scandalized American justice and in particular the DEA, which investigated the case for several years. US Ambassador to Mexico Cristopher Landau said he was “frustrated”. “We fired General Cienfuegos unconditionally, because prosecutor William Barr looked at the whole case and decided that it was really up to Mexico to investigate this case,” he said.

The US Department of Justice was also outraged. In a brief one-paragraph statement, he argued that “The United States reserves the right to resume the Cienfuegos trial if the Mexican government does not ”.

But the angrier are the DEA agents. As the agency cannot give an opinion, the former director of the institution, Mike Vigil, took the floor. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Mexico laughed at the American legal system, I doubt they investigated anything. The message they send is terrible: if you are a corrupt official, we will protect you, ”he said in dialogue with The country from Spain.

Cienfuegos, 72, former head of the Mexican army during the tenure of Enrique Peña Nieto, was arrested on October 15 in Los Angeles by agents of the US Anti-Narcotics Agency. It was the first time in Mexican history that ex-defense minister arrested for drug trafficking links.

As prosecutors prepared to prosecute him, Donald Trump’s government, in a political nod to López Obrador, decided to cancel the process and send him back to Mexico, but on condition that he stand trial. in his own country. The DEA turned over the evidence to the Mexican prosecutor’s office to investigate Cienfuegos.

This Thursday, the Mexican prosecution decided to exonerate the former military chief, declaring that “never had a meeting with members of the investigated criminal organization“And that” he did not maintain any communication with them, nor committed acts tending to protect or help said individuals “.

In just five days, Mexican prosecutors ruled out the evidence it took the DEA seven years to collect, through covert operations and wiretapping.

“What López Obrador says we are making is not true. We develop evidence during investigations. Then the case goes to the prosecutors, they look at everything. And prosecutors here in the United States are very conservative. If the evidence is not strong, they will never bring a formal accusation against anyone. So to say that we fabricate evidence is ridiculous, ”Vigil denounced.

American justice has accused Cienfuegos of four crimes of drug trafficking and money laundering. According to the DEA investigation, he was nicknamed “The Godfather”, and received millionaire bribes to aid and protect the cartel known as H-2, a very violent gang that had split from Beltrán Leyva. With the help of Cienfuegos, the group “trafficked thousands of kilos of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States” between 2015 and 2017, says the American agency.

“The DEA intercepted calls from the H-2 cartel. There were thousands of communications, as far as I know he used quite a bit of resources: elements, analysts, surveillance. They were talking about the Godfather. They called it that in their communications. And then we knew he was a very important person, because of the way they referred to him. They realized it was Cienfuegos months later. They said he was protecting them, helping with cocaine shipments from Colombia to Mexico, ”Vigil says.

López Obrador has given more responsibility and power to the armed forces than any Mexican president in recent history. He gave them huge infrastructure projects and allowed them to have almost absolute control over security in the country.

Source: AFP, AP and EFE