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Mexican authorities will not carry costs towards a former prime navy official who was arrested within the U.S. final yr on drug-trafficking and corruption costs, solely to be despatched dwelling on the request of the outraged Mexican authorities, the New York Times reports. Former protection minister Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda had been accused by the U.S. authorities of taking bribes in alternate for safeguarding drug cartel leaders. He was arrested on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s request in Los Angeles in October. His exoneration in Mexico got here as a surprising about-face after the authorities had promised to carry the complete weight of the Mexican justice system to bear within the case. In November, the nation’s international minister stated that doing nothing after having demanded the final’s return to Mexico could be “nearly suicidal.”
Cienfuegos was referred to as “El Padrino,” or The Godfather, by one in every of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels. Officers stated he directed navy operations away from the felony group in alternate for giant sums of money. The U.S. Justice Division abruptly dropped the case towards him in November, and he was allowed again to Mexico. On Thursday evening, the Mexican lawyer basic’s workplace stated Cienfuegos — who served as protection minister below President Enrique Peña Nieto from 2012 to 2018 — “by no means had any encounter with the members of the felony group.” The company stated he had not supplied safety to cartel members and had by no means obtained any “unlawful earnings.” The information was a blow to U.S. officers, who have been surprised by the Justice Division’s choice to free Cienfuegos and permit him to face justice in Mexico. The DOJ stated the U.S. “reserves the suitable to recommence its prosecution of Cienfuegos if the Authorities of Mexico fails to take action.”
