The US Department of Justice and the Mexican Attorney General’s Office announced that the charges against the Mexican general, who was arrested in Los Angeles in October on charges of drug trafficking, will be dropped
Photo: EFE
Friday, November 22
Salvador Cienfuegos: the Mexican Prosecutor's Office dismisses the case against the former general for lack of evidence
The Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) of Mexico announced this Thursday its decision not to take criminal action against Salvador Cienfuegos, the former Defense Minister extradited from the United States after being arrested for alleged drug trafficking.
A statement from the FGR indicates that they found no evidence that Cienfuegos was related to the dangerous drug trafficking cartel H2 as the US had accused it.
Cienfuegos, Secretary of Defense during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto and the highest-ranking military officer ever arrested for drug trafficking, was extradited to Mexico in November after spending more than a month in detention in the United States.
According to court documents, the US prosecutors referred to Cienfuegos as “the Godfather” to reflect his position at the top of a pyramid that included the armed forces, the Mexican government, and the “extremely violent” H2 drug cartel.
USA. accused General Cienfuegos of using his high position to offer unique protection to the cartel, alerting them to military operations against them and directing the army and its resources against other rivals.
The general always denied all the charges.
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“No evidence found”
The extradition to Mexico was announced in a joint statement from the US Department of Justice and the FGR “so that he could be tried in his country of origin.”
In the communication then, it was noted that the FGR received from the Department of Justice “evidence in this case.”
But in the statement this Thursday, the FGR affirms that there is no evidence of Cienfuegos had links with H2
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“And he did not hold any communication with them, nor did he perform any tending to protect or help said individuals “, says the communiqué c.
“There was also no evidence that he had used any equipment or electronic means, or that he had issued any order to favor the criminal group indicated in this case,” he adds.
“From the analysis of his financial situation and the fulfillment of his tax obligations, no data or symptom of obtaining illegal income or an increase in his patrimony outside the normal appeared, according to his perceptions in the public service. ”
One of the most striking things about the Cienfuegos case was that his arrest was not the product of a joint operation between Mexico and the United States.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was so suspicious that the operation would be leaked that the Mexican government only found out when Cienfuegos was arrested upon arrival in Los Angeles with his family.
And that was not without controversy. His arrest caused a political earthquake.
The FGR statement this Thursday, in fact, dedicates its first paragraphs to highlighting that the DEA investigation “was initiated without the knowledge or the collaboration ”of the Mexican authorities.
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