MEXICO – The exoneration of former Defense Minister General Salvador Cienfuegos has opened new fissures between Mexico and the United States in the middle of the political transition process in Washington and with the president himself Andrés Manuel López Obrador accusing the DEA of inventing crimes.
“The Prosecutor’s Office resolves that it is not applicable the accusation that was fabricated against General Cienfuegos by the US agency in charge of combating drugs, by the DEA ”, López Obrador said this Friday, fully endorsing the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office General of the Republic (FGR).
The FGR announced on Thursday night that it refused to prosecute the powerful and influential General Cienfuegos, former Defense Minister during Enrique Peña Nieto’s stage (1200 – 2018), as did not find evidence that linked him to organized crime or enrichment illicit.
With this decision a strong blow to the Investigations by the United States Drug Control Agency (DEA, in English) that arrested Cienfuegos in Los Angeles in October, accused of drug trafficking and money laundering, to be later exonerated and transferred to Mexico to be investigated by local authorities.
The relationship between the two countries has also been complicated by the decision of the Mexican Government to limit the work of the DEA and other foreign security agencies, which would have repercussions in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.
Fabricate evidence and violate sovereignty
López Obrador, who has been criticizing external interference in matters of national security, took advantage of the exoneration of Cienfuegos to be extremely harsh against the DEA, and even hinted that there were electoral purposes.
The leader of the leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena) touched the humiliation: “I see very little professionalism. (…) It was not a good job. What they did has no basis, there is no matter. ”
The Foreign Minister of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, gave more clues in this regard, highlighting that the attorney general of the United States, William Barr, sent him as evidence some “photostatic copies of cell phone covers with calls” that would reflect the links between Cienfuegos and organized crime.
“In Mexico, with these items that they send, we could not prosecute ”a detainee, Ebrard remarked to Barr.
To calm the waters, the United States ambassador in Mexico, Christopher Landau, pointed out this Thursday that his country returned Cienfuegos “without conditions” and blamed a bureaucratic error that the Mexican government did not know in advance the Cienfuegos was arrested in Los Angeles in October.
But these words, highlighted by the president of Mexico, become a double-edged sword because Landau, ambassador appointed by Donald Trump , who for many made a concession to López Obrador – gave him a diplomatic triumph – returning to Cienfuegos to his country.
Faced with this affront, the United States Department of Justice affirmed this Friday that it “reserves the right” to prosecute General Cienfuegos again for drug trafficking and money laundering “if the Government of Mexico “does not.
A few days after Biden’s inauguration
For the Mexican president, all these movements reinforce a “new stage” in the bilateral relationship, which he has promoted since he came to power in December 2018. But this can cause strong turmoil with Washington five days before Democrat Joe Biden reaches the White House.
López Obrador assured that once the “transition” is carried out in the United States, the new administration headed by Biden will be informed.
“Foreign Minister Ebrard will have to intervene very quickly to try to rediscover a dialogue route in which the Mexican president has to understand that there is an important change in the White House and that it is no longer ‘the friend’ ”Donald Trump, said Juan Francisco Torres Landa, secretary of Mexico United Against Crime (MUCD).
For Gustavo Montiel, specialist in international relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey, the The decision “opens a front with the United States that is very complicated to handle” and may hinder the future collaboration of the neighboring country.
In his view, this political move seeks to endorse Gube’s support It is essential to the Army and, in the best of cases, it will go a bit unnoticed because, traditionally, Democrats have always been more “apathetic” towards Mexico.
But it generates uncertainty and will lead to retaliation in other areas, for example through the Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC).
Opinions divided
In Mexico, the exoneration of Cienfuegos has generated a clash of opinions, from those who defend the decision before a weak US investigation, who see the black hand of the Army and accuse the Government to free a criminal, to preserve the honor of the Armed Forces.
“There is a very prejudiced treatment by social networks that exoneration is assimilated to impunity, but the DEA investigation had no head or tail, “said Javier Oliva, researcher in security matters and professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Cienfuegos, an award-winning military officer and much loved among the troops, was accused of protecting and receiving bribes for years from the now-defunct Mexican H-2 cartel, a split from the Beltrán Leyva criminal group practically unknown until the arrest of the general. .
It is worrying that “a file that the DEA took years to generate, is dismissed in a few weeks, and what we have just heard from the president is even more delicate,” said Torres Landa .
For transparency
López Obrador announced that the DEA file will be disclosed. An exercise in “full transparency” that seeks to put out fires between citizens and the opposition.
But this unprecedented decision may open a new front with the United States Government if classified documents are revealed.
“We apologize (to the United States) and hopefully they understand, but above all there is the dignity of the (Mexican) Government and the moral authority of the president ”, he limited himself to limiting the Mexican president, anticipating the new clash.
By Martí Quintana
