Chapo had as much power as the president"...says Mexican President AMLO

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  TY GUS Infobae

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said that the evidence reveals that drug trafficking had representatives in the highest levels of government is the case of Genaro García Luna, secretary of security in the government of former president Felipe Calderón.

López Obrador said that in past administrations, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, imprisoned in the United States, had as much power as the president of the Republic.

“Just in that one example, the one in charge of security, the right hand (of Calderón). He was with Fox, with Salinas and yes, he comes from way back and  he is accused of protecting a criminal organization, it's yet to be proven, but the indicators are there.” said López Obrador from the National Palace.

“Then what is evident is that, as usually happens in these cases, all these characters are enriched overnight, as my late countryman Chico Che said, “Que Pompo?” [meaning what pageantry or display]  Where do houses and apartments come from?”

"And that it all looked normal, so that's what I meant, that we can't allow crime to govern, it's not that Guzmán Loera was here at Palacio, in Los Pinos, but he had representatives in the government, that it's very serious, " he added

AMLO wants an apology

López Obrador criticized that in the face of events such as García Luna, the opposition continues to take "purity baths", and said that he still hopes that those who asked him to face violence with more violence will apologize after knowing the collusion of the former secretary Security with organized crime.

“I said here, and it's true, I'm still waiting for some to apologize, that when this Mr. García Luna was at his peak he took journalists to the operation centers, they had screens and they left the García Luna operation center talking about wonders Oooh! Oooh, what a breakthrough! What a technological advance! " he said.

He acknowledged that he should simplify his comments; however, López Obrador explained that he prefers to be direct and “shake up” his detractors because for him honesty is more important than experience.

Genaro García Luna, Secretary of State during the six-year term of Felipe Calderón, was arrested last December in the United States, accused of receiving millionaire bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as using security forces to provide protection to the criminal group commanded by El Chapo Guzmán.

In Mexico, the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Finance identified a network of companies, as well as the government of Mexico City and federal agencies of past administrations, from which they allegedly triangulated money to García Luna's accounts.

In recent days, in a video that López Obrador recorded in the ruins of Palenque, he said that: “There came a time when Guzmán Loera had the same power or the same influence that the president had. At that time having the highest position in the Government of the Republic because there was a censure and that prevented those who committed the crimes from being punished,” said the president in a video through which he transmitted his New Year message.

In the video he listed various achievements of his administration, such as separating crime from authority, "Drawing the line very clearly so that what happened in previous governments does not happen."

[He did not mention how his "separating crime from authority" comports with his recent bowing down to the sons of El Chapo when Ovidio Guzmán López was captured. ]