Reports of drug money in Mexican politics threaten relations with the US

Relations between the United States and Mexico were disrupted Wednesday by reports that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is investigating drug financing links to Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador’s 2006 campaign.

Three separate reports published by ProPublica, Insight Crime, and Deutsche Welle (DW) show that in 2006, Mr López Obrador’s aides accused him of lax law enforcement if he took power. This expands on previous allegations that he received millions of dollars from drug cartels in exchange for promises.

President López Obrador slammed the State Department-led media on Wednesday and Thursday, alleging a conspiracy against him.

“In the case of the United States, the State Department and government agencies have tremendous influence over the control of the media, and here again, there is no evidence. They are being honored as good journalists, but they are vile detractors. ” he told reporters at a regular press conference on Wednesday.

The report comes at a time when President Biden is aggressively lobbying the impatient Mexican president for cooperation in immigration enforcement, bringing to the fore old grievances that President López Obrador has with political opponents and the United States. Ta.

The DW report found that Mr. López Obrador had promoted donations of between $2 million and $4 million to his campaign from Edgar Valdes Villarreal, then head of the Beltrán Leyva organization, from La Barbie. He claims that he made a phone call to thank Mr.

At the time, the Beltran Leyva organization was affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel under an umbrella group called “La Federacion.”

ProPublica and Insight Crime reported that the DEA did not say whether then-candidate López Obrador knew about the plan.

However, all three reports, produced independently of each other, told essentially the same story. Specifically, DEA agents investigated the receipt of campaign funds from La Barbie, with López Obrador’s longtime aide Nicolas Molinedo at the center of the scheme.

The investigation was overseen by the Sensitive Activities Review Committee (SARC), a group of Department of Justice (DOJ) and DEA officials who direct politically sensitive operations.

In 2012, shortly after Mr. López Obrador lost his second presidential election to former President Enrique Peña Nieto, SARC suspended its investigation into Mr. Molinedo.

Peña Nieto’s government was seen as less receptive to U.S.-Mexican security cooperation than former President Felipe Calderon, who signed the Merida Initiative, which the two countries jointly combated drug trafficking.

That stance reportedly made U.S. officials less bullish on pursuing investigations related to Mexico’s leading politician López Obrador.

“In the 21st century, you would expect that what we have been building, starting in 2006, but primarily in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, is… , I think it was a major turning point in the security and intelligence field, “Mexico-U.S. relations, and that’s the type of relationship we need today,” said Calderon, who served as a foreign affairs campaign adviser in 2006. said Arturo Sarcan, who served as Mexico’s ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2013.

However, President López Obrador has slammed deepening security cooperation following recent reports, saying Genaro García Luna, Calderon’s now-convicted former security official, was arrested during Calderon’s term. It was implied that he was running the Mexican government.

“About the DEA and other agencies involved [in Mexican politics]Of course they involve themselves, but more so if they are allowed to. I don’t know if you say Calderon or Garcia Luna, but they entered the country and did whatever they wanted, just as happened during that regime. So that doesn’t happen anymore and that makes them angry,” López Obrador said Wednesday.

García Luna was convicted in 2023 of accepting bribes and using his position to support the Sinaloa cartel, but his lawyer said the case was “one of the most notorious and ruthless criminals to testify in this court.” It is built on the support of the

López Obrador and his administration officials praised García Luna’s conviction, claiming it was proof that Calderón, López Obrador’s nemesis, was corrupt.

Days before three reports about the 2006 election campaign, Mexico’s attorney general revived an old case — the 1994 assassination of Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio, then under García Luna’s command. A security official was named as the second gunman suspect.

Mr. Sarkhan called the attorney general’s new revelations a “smoke and mirrors operation” to distract from the press, and Mr. López Obrador’s office had received several requests for comment.

“If you want conclusive evidence, that’s conclusive evidence to me. At least the Mexican government and the presidential administration are very concerned and very uncomfortable with the information published by these three news organizations. ”, said Sarkhan.

The Biden administration has avoided directly addressing the allegations, but a source familiar with the situation downplayed the investigation, saying, “The investigative effort was limited in time and limited in scope to domestically recognized drug-related crimes.” It was limited to actions only.” concluded. ”

In other words, U.S. and Mexican officials in Mexico were informed of the investigation before it was concluded.

Officially, the Justice Department touted law enforcement cooperation with Mexico.

“The Department of Justice fully respects Mexico’s sovereignty and is committed to working side by side with our Mexican partners to combat the drug cartels that have caused so much death and destruction in both countries.” It is our standard practice not to comment on existence. We consistently follow strict internal protocols and oversight to handle all sensitive international investigations.” a representative told The Hill.

López Obrador complained Thursday that the Biden administration wasn’t doing enough to turn the page because the source of the report was multiple U.S. officials.

“That’s not acceptable because it’s an informal question. What I want is for the U.S. government to show itself, because the Mexican president has moral authority and political authority. And without proof, I have to apologize,” he told reporters.

López Obrador said the allegations in the report were false and defamatory, calling ProPublica’s Tim Golden a “mercenary working for the DEA,” but called for charges against the media and reporters involved. refused.

“He’s a journalistic pawn, a mercenary. Just as they exist in Mexico, they exist in the United States and around the world, but it’s connected to the State Department, because it’s not the DEA either. [by itself], abstractly. What, they don’t have information in the State Department or the Department of Justice? ”

These accusations, and López Obrador’s position that the report was somehow manipulated by the U.S. government, could threaten bilateral cooperation amid growing Democratic concerns about the role of immigration in the 2024 presidential election. be.

“They know,” López Obrador said of Biden administration officials.

“President Biden should know this, because if they and their organizations are leaking information and harming me, we’re going to sit down at the table and talk about war on drugs. What? It’s not me, it’s what I represent,” he said.

Like the United States, Mexico is holding a presidential election this year, and although Mr. López Obrador cannot run for re-election, he is promoting the victory of his chosen successor, former Mexican mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, in June.

Mr. Sheinbaum’s opponent, opposition candidate Xocitl Gálvez, took López Obrador’s words to heart on Wednesday.

Mr. Galvez called Mr. Golden a “very prestigious journalist” but said that if Mr. López Obrador believes the report was defamatory, he should file criminal charges in the United States.

“This is a very serious accusation against Mexico’s head of state,” she said. “Since the United States is indicting the Mexican head of state, he has an obligation to file criminal charges.”