The Mexican government dissolved more than a year ago an anti-narcotics unit that trained the United States drug enforcement agency (DEA) to combat organized crime because it was infiltrated by criminals, the president said Thursday Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
“It’s been a while since the decision was made about this groupthere is still cooperation, but that group that was supposedly of a very high strategic level was infiltrated (by crime) and its bosses are being investigated,” López Obrador said in his usual morning conference.
The president added that there are members of the police unit who are now in prison, although he avoided mentioning their names and did not mention why. his government did not announce the disappearance of the unit at the time.
AMLO He added that despite the dissolution of the group, his government maintains cooperation “with international organizations in charge of security,” but that he asks that Mexico’s sovereignty be respected.
The Reuters agency had reported on Wednesday the disappearance of the group, created in 1997, and which worked on cases such as the capture in 2016 of the then leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman.
The president recalled that his government approved in December 2020 a reform to regulate foreign agents in the country.
This legislation was approved after the arrest in the US of the former Secretary of National Defense, Salvador Cienfuegosby a DEA investigation.
At that time, Mexico expressed its discomfort at not having been notified of the operation against Cienfuegos, who was arrested in October 2020 in Los Angeles for alleged links to drug trafficking.
However, the United States shortly after dropped the charges against the soldier and sent him back to Mexico.
Mexico’s sovereignty was asserted because there was no moral authority,” López Obrador said.
In late January, Mexico and the United States presented a security action plan in the framework of what the Mexican government called a “new relationship between equals.”
The plan includes several actions to “prevent cross-border crimes and pursue criminal networks,” according to the Mexican foreign minister. Marcelo Ebrard at that moment.
Some 340,000 people have been killed in Mexico since 2006, when the government launched an anti-drug crackdown. Most of these crimes are attributed to clashes between criminal gangs.
