Alonso Urrutia and Emir Olivares
The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, August 13, 2024, p. 3
The United States government must clarify whether the versions that the transfer and capture of drug traffickers Ismael The May Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López was actually an operation by the Department of Justice or some other agency, said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Although he stressed that there are still many aspects to be clarified, he justified the US delay because there are many interests
involved.
Many of the questions (who the pilot was and where he is; whether there was a prior agreement with some agency of the United States government) will have to be cleared up by the information that must be provided to Mexico. However, he justified this American reluctance: “it is not former President Trump, nor Joe Biden, it is the modus operandi of that country’s politics for 200 years.”
Regarding the responsibility of the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, he ratified his confidence in him, referring that on Saturday, shortly before an event in Culiacán, he sought him out to anticipate that he would give his version after learning of the letter from The May, claiming that he was kidnapped while attending a meeting with the state leader. “He asked me for my opinion, which I was aware of –and it is true– that it was not just about involving him, but involving the head of the Executive, you know who, and continuing with the same campaign of narco president”.
–Do you no longer have any doubt that the governor has nothing to do with it?
–No, but it is better for the prosecutor’s office to investigate. Furthermore, Governor Rocha asked that the case be taken up, because there was –and it is public knowledge– a difference with the former rector who died or was murdered. There was a controversy at the university. It is important that this be clarified.
López Obrador supported Rocha Moya’s version that he was not in Sinaloa, but in Los Angeles with his family, which is why he had to return when they started calling him. We called him on the morning when the events were announced. He didn’t answer because he was out.
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After emphasizing that the Attorney General’s Office will be the one to investigate the events, he stressed that there is a hypothesis that the plane left Sinaloa. The prosecution says: there is still no evidence, no solid proof. There is no need to speculate, but yes, the prosecution is already saying that he left the outskirts of Culiacán or Culiacán.
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Based on new information that has emerged, the FGR must delve deeper into the investigations, including into the murder of the former rector of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Héctor Cuén. A version different from the one that had been expressed in the Sinaloa court by the person accompanying him, who had spoken of an assault at a gas station. That version has now changed. That witness will have to testify again, he commented.
–Did your government know that a commander of the Sinaloa Prosecutor’s Office provided security to The May?
–No, we didn’t know.
–And what do you think about this collusion?
–Very bad. We have to try to find him, because he is missing, there are two of them. And hopefully they are found alive.
He considered it important for the FGR to maintain constant communication about the progress of the investigation, because it is a very delicate matter, although it is clear that some things will have to be kept confidential.
Once again, López Obrador raised the question about the effectiveness of arresting the leaders of criminal organizations without addressing the causes of drug use and trafficking. While the capture of Zambada will allow for much progress and demystify the environment of drug trafficking, it is also a case with political impact. Will the problem of drug trafficking and drug use really be solved?
He criticized the United States’ position of not modifying its policy regarding the drug problem, concluding with a question: Why do they think that by arresting one famous drug trafficker, or two, or three, or 10, they are going to solve their problem of drug distribution and fentanyl? And, most regrettably, are they going to be able to solve the problem of the loss of 100,000 young lives? What, isn’t that simulation? Because that’s not getting to the bottom of it?
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