The arrest in the United States of former Mexican defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos (2012-2018) is linked to a case “Drug trafficking”Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday (October 16th).
The Mexican president did not specify the criminal grounds for which Mr. Cienfuegos was arrested Thursday when he arrived in Los Angeles. The United States must give the details of this arrest later.
“It is deplorable that a former Minister of Defense is arrested and accused of drug trafficking”, underlined Mr. Lopez Obrador during his daily morning press conference, specifying that no investigation was underway in Mexico on the former minister.
He explained that two weeks ago, the Mexican Embassy in the United States had already informed him that an investigation was underway against Mr. Cienfuegos, who was secretary of defense for the duration of the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018).
“Degradation of the functioning of government”
Mr. Lopez Obrador deemed this arrest unprecedented, to which is added that, in December 2019, of the former Mexican public security secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, accused of having been involved in the traffic of at least 53 tons cocaine to the United States and currently imprisoned in New York.
“It is an unequivocal sign of the decomposition of the regime at that time, of the degradation of the functioning of government in the country during the neoliberal period (…). We could speak of a narco-government and without a doubt of a mafia government ”, said the left-wing president.
He argued that people who might be involved in this case along with Mr. Cienfuegos are still active in the army and “Will be suspended, dismissed and, if necessary, made available to the competent authorities”.
