Lopez Obrador criticizes DEA role in Mexico after ex-army chief’s arrest
Reuters•October 18, 2020
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s president has criticized the historic role played by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in his country, days after a former Mexican army chief was arrested in Los Angeles on drug charges at the behest of the DEA.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador described Thursday’s arrest of ex-Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos as evidence of rampant corruption in past governments. But it also dealt a heavy blow to a powerful institution he relies on.
Speaking in the southern state of Oaxaca on Saturday, Lopez Obrador said the DEA had dealt for years with Cienfuegos and Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexico’s security minister from 2006 to 2012, who has also been charged in the United States with drug-trafficking offenses.
