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FILE -
In this
Friday,
Sept.
15,
2017,
file
photo,
Mexico's
Defense
Secretary
Gen.
Salvador
Cienfuegos
Zepeda
gestures
as U.S.
Defense
Secretary
Jim
Mattis
listens
during a
reception
ceremony
in
Mexico
City.
Mexico's
top
diplomat
says the
country's
former
defense
secretary,
Gen.
Salvador
Cienfuegos,
has been
arrested
in Los
Angeles.
Foreign
Relations
Secretary
Marcelo
Ebrard
wrote
Thursday,
Oct. 15,
2020 in
his
Twitter
account
that
U.S.
Ambassador
Christopher
Landau
had
informed
him of
Cienfuegos'
arrest.
(AP
Photo/Rebecca
Blackwell,
File) |
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Ex-Mexico
army
chief
arrested
in LA on
drugs,
money
charges
By
E.
EDUARDO
CASTILLO
and
STEFANIE
DAZIO
apnews.com
MEXICO
CITY -
Former
Mexican
defense
secretary
Gen.
Salvador
Cienfuegos,
who led
the
country’s
army for
six
years
under
ex-President
Enrique
Peña
Nieto,
has been
arrested
on drug
trafficking
and
money
laundering
charges
at Los
Angeles
International
Airport,
U.S. and
Mexican
sources
said
Thursday.
Two
people
with
knowledge
of the
arrest
said
Cienfuegos
was
taken
into
custody
on a
U.S.
Drug
Enforcement
Administration
warrant.
One of
the
people
said the
warrant
was for
drug
trafficking
and
money
laundering
charges.
Both
spoke on
the
condition
of
anonymity
because
they
were not
authorized
to
discuss
the case
publicly.
The
DEA
declined
to
comment
Thursday
night.
Mexico’s
Foreign
Minister,
Marcelo
Ebrard,
wrote on
his
Twitter
account
that
U.S.
Ambassador
Christopher
Landau
had
informed
him of
the
retired
general’s
arrest
and that
Cienfuegos
had a
right to
receive
consular
assistance.
A
senior
Mexican
official,
who also
spoke on
the
condition
of
anonymity
because
he
wasn’t
authorized
to give
details
of the
case,
said
Cienfuegos
was
arrested
when he
arrived
at the
Los
Angeles
airport
with his
family.
His
family
members
were
released
and he
was
taken to
the
Metropolitan
Detention
Center.
Cienfuegos
served
from
2012 to
2018 as
secretary
of
defense
under
Peña
Nieto.
He is
the
highest-ranking
former
Cabinet
official
arrested
since
the top
Mexican
security
official
Genaro
Garcia
Luna was
arrested
in Texas
in 2019.
Garcia
Luna,
who
served
under
former
President
Felipe
Calderón,
has
pleaded
not
guilty
to drug
trafficking
charges.
Cienfuegos
is 72
years
old and
has
retired
from
active
duty.
Mexico’s
Defense
Department
had no
immediate
reaction
to the
arrest.
Mike
Vigil,
the
DEA’s
former
chief of
international
operations,
said
when he
was in
Mexico
in 2012
he heard
corruption
allegations
about
Cienfuegos.
“There
were
always
allegations
of
corruption,
nothing
we could
sink our
teeth
into.
That was
kind of
unheard
of
because
Mexico
has
always
put the
military
on a
pedestal,”
said
Vigil,
author
of the
book
“The
Land of
Enchantment
Cartel.”
“The
corruption
is just
coming
to
roost,
because
individuals
who were
once
untouchable
are now
getting
arrested,”
Vigil
said.
“If they
cooperate
(with
U.S.
prosecutors)
there
are
others
who are
going to
be
falling,
noting
U.S.
officials
“usually
don’t
want to
trade
down,
they
usually
trade
up,”
seeking
evidence
against
equal or
higher-ranking
officials.
“It’s
really a
precarious
situation
for
Mexico
to have
two
Cabinet-level
officials
arrested
in the
U.S.”
Whatever
the
charges,
it will
be a
tough
blow for
Mexico,
where
the army
and navy
are some
of the
few
remaining
respected
public
institutions.
While
current
President
Andrés
Manuel
López
Obrador
has
vowed to
go after
corruption
and
lawbreaking
under
past
administrations,
he has
also
relied
more
heavily
on the
army —
and
charged
it with
more
tasks,
ranging
from
building
infrastructure
projects
to
distributing
medical
supplies
— than
any
other
president
in
recent
history.
Under
Cienfuegos,
the
Mexican
army was
accused
of
frequent
human
rights
abuses,
but that
was true
of both
his
predecessors
and his
successor
in the
post.
The
worst
scandal
in
Cienfuegos’
tenure
involved
the 2014
army
killings
of
suspects
in a
grain
warehouse.
The
June
2014
massacre
involved
soldiers
who
killed
22
suspects
at the
warehouse
in the
town of
Tlatlaya.
While
some
died in
an
initial
shootout
with the
army
patrol —
in which
one
soldier
was
wounded
— a
human
rights
investigation
later
showed
that at
least
eight
and
perhaps
as many
as a
dozen
suspects
were
executed
after
they
surrendered.
__
Dazio
reported
from Los
Angeles.
Associated
Press
Writer
Mark
Stevenson
contributed
from
Mexico
City.
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