Mexico: former defense minister arrested and charged in the United States
The Mexican Minister of Defense from 2012 to 2018, Salvador Cienfuegos, in Mexico City, September 19, 2018. REUTERS / Daniel Becerril
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The information is on the front page of all the Mexican press: the former defense minister has been arrested in the United States.
Salvador Cienfuegos, 72, is accused of drug trafficking into the United States and of money laundering.
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For several months, investigators from the DEA, the US federal anti-drug agency, wondered who this famous "godfather" was, mentioned by members of
cartels
wiretapped.
Until the day when one of them warned that the "godfather" was on television.
American agents then discovered that the person on the screen was none other than the Mexican Minister of Defense.
The investigation continued for several years, then the American authorities patiently waited for the retired general to set foot on American territory.
It was finally during a family trip that he was picked up Thursday at the Los Angeles airport.
The indictment concerns the end of the mandate of Salvador Cienfuegos, minister of former president Enrique Peña Nieto from 2012 to 2018. The Brooklyn prosecutor says he has thousands of text messages proving that in exchange for bribes. de-vin he made sure that no operation was carried out against the Mexican H2 cartel, a group responsible for the export and distribution of tonnes of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines in the United States.
This arrest highlights the importance of corruption at the highest level of the Mexican state.
Another government member Peña Nieto is already behind bars in New York.
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To read also: The longest tunnel ever discovered between Mexico and the United States
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