“When we talk about buying weapons, everyone remembers how in the time of Felipe Calderón, not only there, the country was militarized, but, in the height of shamelessness, Calderón and his government ended up becoming arms dealers. “, said last Tuesday the Secretary of the Interior.
But the secretary’s claim to the former PAN president, for having allowed the entry of thousands of weapons that ended up in the hands of criminals, has not been the only one.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has considered it illegal and in violation of Mexico’s sovereignty, which is why he even sent a diplomatic note to the United States government a few months ago asking for details about the operation.
Adán Augusto vs Calderón: the alleged arms trafficking in ‘Fast and Furious’
What did the operation consist of?
Between 2009 and 2011, during the governments of Felipe Calderón and Barack Obama, it was agreed to implement the Fast and Furious operation under which weapons with a chip were allowed to enter Mexican territory to know their destination and act against criminals.
The main controversy over this operation is because hundreds of weapons ended up in the hands of members of organized crime and caused deaths.
Negotiations for this agreement began with the government of George W. Bush, but began in 2009. It is estimated that around 2,500 weapons entered Mexico, which were to be traced until they reached the hands of drug traffickers.
The operation was considered a failure because the drug gangs were not reached, but the violence did increase. With one of those weapons, during a shootout in Arizona, border agent Brian Terry was killed.
The attorney general of the United States, Eric Holder, acknowledged that the operation was “failed” in its entirety and “should never have existed.”
According to the Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime (FEMDO), the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was “the criminal organization that received the weapons.” Although others were also benefited, such as Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.
In January of this year, the Attorney General’s Office obtained arrest warrants against seven people, including former police and justice commanders from the government of Felipe Calderón.
Among those people was the former Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna, Luis Cárdenas Palomino, former Intelligence Coordinator of that group, and Joaquín Guzmán Loera.
