AMLO: Mexico's Elite Unit And The DEA Was "Infiltrated By Criminals"

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

The president clarified that DEA agents still operate in Mexico, but only those "that are permitted by law, according to the new legislation that emerged after the arrest of General Cienfuegos."

The dissolution in Mexico of an anti narcotics unit that cooperated with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) took place a year ago, because it was shown that this group was infiltrated by organized crime, said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

During his morning press conference at the National Palace, he explained that US federal agents "do what they want," and accused them of fabricating crimes.

The group was one of special investigations units (SIUs) that operate in some 15 countries to dismantle smuggling networks and catch drug lords around the world.

Agents in these countries are trained by the DEA, but are under the control of their national governments.

In Mexico, the more than 50 officers of that police unit participated in the capture of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, then the head of the Sinaloa Cartel.

However, the SIU's reputation was damaged when its former boss Iván Reyes was arrested in 2017 and pleaded guilty in a US court to taking bribes to leak information to drug traffickers.

López Obrador clarified that the relationship with the United States in terms of cooperation to combat drug cartels continues to be good, "but with respect," and assured that during his administration operations such as Fast and Furious are no longer carried out to introduce arms to the country.

For the president, it is appropriate to act jointly with the United States "when an operation must be carried out, in something that is convenient for both countries," and he affirmed that the administration of President Joe Biden "knows very well that we do not have relations of complicity with anyone, they know it perfectly, so they are respectful relationships”.

Although respect is maintained, President López Obrador said that he had a “question” for the United States government: “they require greater control, discipline, professionalism and respect for hierarchies,” and said that, in his opinion, “sometimes there’s the impression that those at the bottom govern on their own".

"Now that he wrote his memoirs, President Trump's attorney (William Barr) talks about the arrest of General Cienfuegos and maintains that it was all low level agents and that they didn’t know," he said.

During the press conference, the president clarified that DEA agents still operate in Mexico, but only those "that are permitted by law, according to the new legislation that emerged after the arrest of General Cienfuegos."

"We maintain cooperation with international organizations in charge of security, but we try to respect our sovereignty," he explained, adding that for a long time Mexico's sovereignty was not asserted "because there was no moral authority."

The elite team, founded in 1997, was the main conduit for the DEA to share clues about drug shipments and evidence obtained on US soil with the Mexican government.

The US drug enforcement agency reportedly took the new Mexican members of the police unit to its state-of-the-art facility in Quantico, Virginia, to train them in the latest surveillance techniques. They would have been examined, including polygraph tests.

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