Mexico’s Ex-Defense Minister Detained in U.S. on DEA Orders
Mexico’s Ex-Defense Minister Detained in U.S. on DEA Orders
(Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s former defense minister, General Salvador Cienfuegos, was detained by U.S. authorities on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s orders, the country’s most senior military official involved in an investigation by the narcotics-fighting agency.
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said in a tweet Thursday night he expects to be informed of the charges against Cienfuegos in the coming hours, having been told of the detention by U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau. Cienfuegos was held after arriving at an L.A. airport on orders of the DEA, according to the Foreign Ministry’s North America director Roberto Velasco.
Cienfuegos, 72, was the top military official during the six years of former President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration, whose 2012 to 2018 government has come under intense scrutiny from current President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The president delights in railing against corruption under past administrations. Yet graft in the military could prove delicate territory for Lopez Obrador, who has drastically expanded the army’s role in Mexican life, from protecting oil facilities and ports to undertaking public works including airports and even government bank branches.
During his morning press conference on Friday, Lopez Obrador called the detention “unprecedented” and said it’s yet more proof of the Mexican state’s “decomposition” in recent years. The president also said that while he has full confidence in current military chiefs, any officials found to be linked to the case will be removed from government.
“It’s a very sad situation that a former defense secretary is detained and accused of narco trafficking links,” Lopez Obrador said, confirming the case. The armed forces “are pillars of the Mexican state.”
Mike Vigil, a former head of DEA international operations, said he was informed by current officials that the charges against Cienfuegos include drug trafficking and money laundering related to a case in New York. Bloomberg News hasn’t been able to confirm the details, and a former press official for Cienfuegos didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“Given the army’s current prominence in Mexico, the arrest will have disastrous consequences,” Vigil said in an interview. “Mexico has always held the army on a pedestal as being incorruptible.”
Before stepping down in 2018, Cienfuegos had publicly praised Lopez Obrador’s pick to replace him, current Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval, who has become a close ally of the president.
Cienfuegos is now the second major Mexican ex-security official being held by U.S. law enforcement. Former federal police chief Genaro Garcia Luna is on trial in New York for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes to protect convicted kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s Sinaloa drug cartel.
Read More: Mexico’s Ex-Top Cop Pleads Not Guilty to New ‘El Chapo’ Charges
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