US charges former Mexican minister with drug trafficking

Mexico’s president has pledged to clean up the country’s armed forces after a former defence minister was arrested in the United States on drug trafficking and money laundering charges this week. Salvador Cienfuegos, who served as Mexico’s defence chief from 2012 to 2018, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, taking Mexico’s security establishment by surprise, senior federal sources said. US authorities did not warn their Mexican counterparts of the operation. According to documents released by US federal prosecutors in New York on Friday, prosecutors accuse Cienfuegos of conspiring to produce and distribute heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and cannabis in the US between December 2015 and February 2017. “In exchange for bribe payments, he permitted the H-2 Cartel – a cartel that routinely engaged in wholesale violence, including torture and murder – to operate with impunity in Mexico,” the indictment read. The prosecution said the evidence against the retired general, nicknamed “The Godfather”, included thousands of Blackberry messages between Cienfuegos and cartel members that were intercepted by the authorities. Under Lopez Obrador, the armed forces have taken on more responsibility, including establishing a militarised national police force [File: Henry Romero/Reuters]During a brief hearing in Los Angeles on Friday, a federal magistrate judge ordered Cienfuegos remain in US custody at least until a formal hearing on his detention is held next week. The ex-defence minister had asked for a postponement of the detention hearing. “It is very regrettable that a defence secretary is arrested, accused of links with drug trafficking,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at his daily news conference earlier on Friday. “We’re facing an unprecedented situation,” Lopez Obrador added, noting that two former Mexican ministers are now detained in the US on allegations of links to drug cartels. “Of course, all this must be proven,” he said. Lopez Obrador, who came to power in 2018 promising to crack down on corruption, added that the arrests are a clear indication that Mexico was previously run by “a narco-government and without doubt a mafia government”. style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">