The report that accuses AMLO’s campaign of receiving money from drug trafficking for the 2006 elections

Journalist Tim Golden, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, published an investigation into American media on Wednesday ProPública where he states that Sinaloa Cartel donated 2 million dollars to the campaign Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) for the 2006 presidential elections, something that was emphatically rejected by the current president of Mexico.

The author of the report claims that he had access to an investigation conducted between 2010 and 2011 by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

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According to ProPública, According to official government documents and more than a dozen interviews with U.S. and Mexican officials, the money was given to campaign advisors in exchange for the promise that a future administration of López Obrador would facilitate the criminal operations of drug traffickers.

The medium specifies that The investigation did not conclusively determine whether López Obrador approved these alleged donations., not even if I knew about them. But authorities said the investigation, which was put together through the extensive cooperation of a former campaign operative and a drug dealer turned informant, produced evidence that at least one of Trump’s closest advisers AMLO accepted the agreement proposed by the Sinaloa Cartel.

How did it all start? According to journalist Golden, The DEA agents’ first source was Roberto López Nájeralawyer who in 2008 voluntarily presented himself to the United States Embassy in Mexico asking to speak to someone DEA.

The two agents who came to meet him heard a story they found convincing, says ProPublica. López Najera He told them that during the last few years he worked as a legal consultant in the company of one of the most well-known drug traffickers in Mexico, Edgar Valdez Villareal, aka ‘La Barbie’who was a prominent member of the Beltrán Leyva Cartelwhich in turn maintained relations with the Sinaloa Cartel.

Edgar Valdez Villareal, aka La Barbie, from the Beltrán Leyva cartel, is presented to the press at the Federal Police headquarters in Mexico City, on August 31, 2010. (AFP PHOTO/Alfredo Estrella).

But only in 2010 did the DEA began to focus on one of the most shocking revelations he made López Nájera in his multiple interviews with US and Mexican officials.

In an interview in San Diego, López Najera I had told thatBarbie‘ summoned him to a meeting in January 2006 at a hotel in Nuevo Vallarta, on the Pacific coast. They attended the meeting Francisco Leon Garciaa mining businessman from Durango who was friends with one of ‘La Barbie’s’ lieutenants, Sergio Villareal Barragán (‘El Grande’), and another man.

“The two men stated that they were there with the knowledge and authorization of López Obrador, explained López Nájera. In exchange for an infusion of cash, León said, the campaign promised that a future López Obrador government would select law enforcement officials who would be helpful to drug traffickers… Even more important, U.S. officials said, they would also traffickers were told that López Obrador would not appoint an attorney general who he considered hostile to his interests,” the report states.

‘Barbie’ accepted the agreement and sent López Najera to hand over the money Mauricio Soto Caballero It is Nicolas Mollinedo, who was head of logistics for AMLO’s campaign. Thus, the Sinaloa Cartel gave approximately two million dollars in cash in three deliveries to Soto and other campaign members over the following months, López Nájera reported to the DEA.

But the triumph of Felipe Calderon in the 2006 presidential elections Mexico broke the supposed agreement between drug trafficking and the campaign AMLO. According to López Nájera, ‘Barbie‘improvised a plan to kidnap the president of the electoral court and force him to revoke the victory decision to give victory to the AMLO. The drug trafficker sent a caravan of gunmen to invade the court, but they aborted the plan when they discovered that Army soldiers were protecting the place.

After insisting for days that he was the rightful winner, López Obrador He gathered thousands of his supporters in Mexico City for a protest that lasted months and covered much of the capital’s colonial center. According to López Najera‘Barbie’ He also donated funds to help feed protesters, ProPublica said.

Tim Golden reported that Soto Caballero He also ended up cooperating with US justice after pleading guilty to drug trafficking conspiracy charges. During several interviews with prosecutors in the Southern District, he confirmed that he had received two deliveries of money from López Najera for the 2006 campaign and that ‘Barbie’ had sent a third shipment.

ProPublica interviewed Nicolas Mollinedowho denied accepting donations from drug traffickers and rejected the idea that López Obrador I would tolerate such corruption. “We don’t deal with money”he said.

The report states that some US officials considered that The evidence was not strong enough to justify the risks of an extensive covert operation in Mexico.

But in late 2011, DEA agents proposed an operation in which they would offer $5 million in alleged drug money to people working on Trump’s second presidential campaign. López Obrador.

The agents’ plan was to confirm the evidence accumulated about the drug traffickers’ donations in 2006 and try to recreate this scheme in the new campaign. López Obrador for the 2012 elections, but this time recording everything in audio and video. The investigation was called Operation Polanco.

However, the plan was not carried out and Justice Department officials closed the investigation, according to Golden’s article.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed to the EFE agency that The investigation was closed in 2011. He also told him that the investigation was conducted under the “protocol for handling sensitive international investigations”.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador speaks during his morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City. (EFE/Sáshenka Gutiérrez).

On Wednesday, during his daily press conference, AMLO described the information as “false” and said it was “slander”. What is more, He accused the United States of sponsoring “immoral practices.”

“They are certainly very upset and unfortunately the press (…) not only in Mexico (but) in the world is very subordinate to power,” he said.

“I don’t denounce the journalist or journalists, I don’t denounce the media. I denounce the United States government for allowing these immoral practices and contrary to the political ethics that should prevail in all governments in the world”, said the left-wing president.

“You have to say what DEA whether it is true or not. What research did they do. But not the DEA: the State Department. “That’s really the problem, and it’s from a long time ago,” he said. AMLO.

López Obrador He maintained that such accusations are part of attacks by his opponents ahead of the presidential elections on June 2, whose polls are led by official candidate Claudia Sheinbaum.

CNN interviewed Mike Vigil, former head of International Operations at DEAwho said that no evidence was found indicating that López Obrador He was aware of illicit money flowing into his campaign.

“Yes, a person who was very close to him, called Nicolas Mollinedoand he was apparently recorded talking to a person who was collaborating with the DEA and he says ‘well, if there’s a problem, let’s talk to the lawyer so he can resolve it’. This is something that made me curious because if López Obrador If he had been involved, he would have said: I’m going to talk to the president so he can resolve this situation,” said Vigil.

“It was never mentioned that López Obrador was involved, there are no recordings, so this note came at a very bad time, since relations are not very good between the DEA and the Mexican government, and now I think they are going to get worse”, he continued.

“I don’t understand why the journalist published this note, especially when this case is old, it is no longer relevant, it simply harms relations between Mexico and the United States,” concluded Vigil.

Source: Elcomercio