As a sign of just how the continuing US-Mexico “war on drugs” and by extension the war on cartels is going, no less than Mexico’s former top leader of the armed forces has been arrested.
The country’s former defense minister, Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, was taken into US custody after landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had a warrant for his arrest – no doubt a huge shock to the high profile general given he was traveling with his family, presumably on vacation
Mexico’s foreign secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, was the first to confirm via Twitter that the American ambassador to Mexico informed him of Cienfuegos’ detention.
The charges are related to corruption and drug trafficking ties, including large-scale cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine distribution and conspiracy, as well as conspiracy to launder the narcotics proceeds through illicit banking transactions, according to the just released indictment.
The charges were initially confirmed in statements by Mexico’s president on Friday:
The arrest of Mexico’s former defense minister by U.S. authorities shows that corruption is Mexico’s biggest problem, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Friday.
“I always said that it wasn’t just a crisis, but a decadence that we were suffering from,” President López Obrador said in a press briefing. “It’s regrettable that a former defense minister is detained, accused of ties to drug trafficking.” – READ MORE
Listen to the insightful Thomas Paine Podcast Below --