San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
U.S. slams Mexico over DEA cartel case
MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Department of Justice berated Mexico for releasing hundreds of pages of evidence in a drug trafficking case against a former Mexican defense minister, saying the publication of sensitive information shared in confidence violates a mutual aid treaty.
Mexico’s decision to make the documents public raises doubts about future law enforcement collaboration between the two countries, a Justice Department statement said.
“Publicizing such information violates the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance between Mexico and the United States, and calls into question whether the United States can continue to share information to support Mexico’s own criminal investigations,” said the statement released late Friday from an agency spokeswoman.
The statement also addressed Mexico’s decision not to charge the nation’s ex-defense chief with any crime.
Retired Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, who served as defense minister from 2012-18, was arrested on drug trafficking charges at Los Angeles International Airport last year but was later released to presumably face charges at home after an intense lobbying campaign by Mexican diplomats.
On Friday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that Cienfuegos would not face charges in Mexico and accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of fabricating a case against him.
“Why did they do the investigation like this?” López Obrador said. “Without support, without proof ?”
The Mexican president called U.S. drug agents incompetent and suggested that the timing of the Cienfuegos arrest shortly before the November U.S. presidential election may have been politically motivated. He ordered the release of evidence collected in the case by U.S. authorities because he said it would bolster his claims.
The Department of Justice statement defended its case against Cienfuegos, saying that the evidence released “show(s) that the case against General Cienfuegos was, in fact, not fabricated.”
The evidence included thousands of intercepted cellphone messages between two alleged cartel members discussing a man they refer to as “Padrino.”
U.S. prosecutors say Padrino, or the Godfather, was a code name for Cienfuegos. Mexican prosecutors have called that assertion into doubt.
The documents also contain screenshots of messages said by prosecutors to be from Cienfuegos alerting the men to upcoming military operations and discussing delivery of bribes.
Cienfuegos was arrested Oct. 15 and charged with helping Mexico’s H-2 cartel smuggle tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana to the United States. U.S. prosecutors say he not only protected the cartel, but used the military to attack its rivals.
Current military leaders were incensed when Cienfuegos was arrested and pushed López Obrador to win his release.
The Mexican president did that, in part by threatening to withhold future security cooperation with the U.S. unless Cienfuegos was freed.
Cienfuegos was not placed under arrest after he was returned by U.S. officials to Mexico. And less than two months after he returned to Mexican soil, officials cleared him of wrongdoing.