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| Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa |
Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
assured in his book Decisiones difíciles (English: Difficult
Decisions) that Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the Gulf Cartel
and founder of the Los Zetas paramilitary group, planned to assassinate him in
2006.
The President narrated that Daniel Cabeza
de Vaca, the former Attorney General, told him at the beginning of his term:
"Felipe, we have information from the Army, which comes from American
sources with informants in the cartel that Osiel Cárdenas is not happy with the
result of the election and has the plan to assassinate you."
Cárdenas Guillén earned his alias "El
Mata Amigos" (English: The Friend Killer) after assassinating his friend
Salvador Gómez Herrera, alias "El Chava", in 1998. El Chava was one
of the figureheads of the Gulf Cartel after the arrest of Juan Garcia Abrego in
1996. Cárdenas Guillén's reign in the Gulf Cartel was unprecedented since he
formed Los Zetas, which were known for their brutal tactics and became one of
the leading criminal groups in Mexico.
Background
Los Zetas started out as the paramilitary group
of the Gulf Cartel. Some of its original members were part of the Mexican
Army's Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales (English: Special-Forces
Airmobile Group, GAFE) and were adept in combat.
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| Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, former leader of the Gulf Cartel |
In 2010, a Texas judge handed down a
25-year prison sentence against Cárdenas Guillén. Neither the U.S. government
nor the federal court where he faced trial released any details of the case
against him. His sentence was handed down behind closed doors and the case was
sealed in perpetuity.
Some versions indicate that Cárdenas
Guillén struck a deal with U.S. authorities to not receive life imprisonment in
exchange for pleading guilty to five federal charges against him and providing
valuable information about the Mexican criminal underworld.
Book
On May 18, President Calderón presented
his second book in which he reflects on the task of governing and details how
he lived his presidential term.
He specifically covers the fundamentals of what is means to govern a country and his decision-making process throughout his administration. He argues that many decisions political leaders make are done without knowing with absolute certainty every outcome or consequence that may arise. Calderón argues that decisions should be made after considering all the available information and often means weighing the "lesser evil" and how it can benefit "greater good".
In addition, Calderón covers topics like the worldwide financial crisis of 2007–08 during his administration, how he dealt with political gridlock, the 2009 swine flu pandemic, his public security policy, among others. There is an hour and a half long interview on YouTube where he discusses his book and answers questions from three journalists in Spanish.
People on social media did not
wait and launched criticism, saying his book was similar to the one written by
former Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United States, Hillary
Clinton. The new book by former President Calderón is called "Difficult
Decisions", Hillary Clinton's book was called "Hard Choices" and
was translated into Spanish with the same title as his.
Recent political scandals
It is worth mentioning that Calderón's
former associates have been involved in a series of political scandals. Genaro
García Luna, the Former Secretary of Public Security under him, is facing trial
in the U.S. for money laundering and drug trafficking.
He is accused of
laundering millions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels through 11 different
tax havens worldwide: the U.S, Barbados, Hong Kong, Israel, Latvia, Panama, the
U.K., Cyprus and Curaçao.
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| Genaro García Luna |
According to reports, the money came from
"bribes delivered by organized crime groups" when García Luna served
as Mexico's Secretary of Public Security from 2006 to 2012.
In December 2019, U.S. authorities
arrested García Luna on said charges. He is believed to have favored the
Sinaloa Cartel and allowed it to operate in Mexico with relative impunity.
Hello Chivis
ReplyDeleteMay I ask why you have "El Peterete" Vizcarra (A Zeta killed by la Barbie in a video) as your profile picture?
American sources told the Mexican Amry that Osiel Wanted Calderon killed. Wow .
I wrote about it to another person, but it ties into an article I have been writing about Barbie and the four Zs...and mostly about vizcarra.
DeleteMy other avatar I used for a long time but MX came and uses the same to confusing for me so I looked elsewhere and saw the foto. it took me back to when i saw the video late 2006 or early 2007. anyway more of a personal thing, i was in a funk that day..... Thank you for always being respectful. you are with everyone. Love or hate you people can't deny that and everyone should do the same
Chivis, you can revert back to your old BB picture if you want. I'll keep the one I have. I was under the notion that reporters were supposed to keep a BB logo (i.e. formal website picture) on the main board. All good now.
DeleteI made my own profile pic when I was contributor to differentiate myself
Delete@Armadillo: Nice profile picture!
DeleteAt this point who cares, Guillen will be out soon and Calderon is living happy
ReplyDeleteWhat else is new he just happened to publish it he should run for President again.
ReplyDelete