'The Godfather' is cleared: Mexico president says former defense minister arrested by the US and handed over won't be charged and claims DEA 'fabricated' accusations he helped cartel move tonnes of drugs - despite wiretap implicating him
Mexico won't pursue criminal charges against former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos, officials have announced - a decision that raised criticism and comes despite US prosecutors' accusations he collaborated with drug lords.
Cienfuegos, a member of former President Enrique Peña Nieto's government, was arrested in October at Los Angeles international airport and accused by US prosecutors of collaborating with the H-2 cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful drug trafficking organizations.
His arrest sparked outrage among Mexico's top officials, who reportedly threatened to expel American federal drug agents if the DOJ refused to abandon its case.
A federal judge in November granted a US government request to drop drug charges against Cienfuegos and return him to Mexico, which the US hoped would restore trust in the neighbors' severely strained security ties.
However, all charges were dropped and Cienfuegos, who was never placed under arrest after he was returned by US officials, is no longer under investigation.
The Mexican attorney general's office said in a statement late Thursday that an analysis of the evidence showed Cienfuegos 'never had any encounters with members of the criminal organization investigated by US authorities'.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (pictured left in December) on Friday said he supported Mexico's attorney general's office decision to exonerate former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos
US prosecutors dropped their case against Cienfuegos (pictured in court in November) under the pressure of Mexico's implicit threats to restrict or expel US agents, so could he be returned to Mexico and investigated under Mexican law
It also claimed he did not 'maintain any communication with them, or carry out acts tending to protect or help said individuals.'
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador then on Friday accused the US Drug Enforcement Administration of fabricating crimes against the former general.
'The attorney general's office acted because it considered that the evidence presented by the United States government, in this case by the agency known by its acronym as the DEA, has no evidentiary value,' Lopez Obrador said.
'Why did they do the investigation like that?' he added. 'Without support, without proof?'
The president said the evidence shared by the US against Cienfuegos would be made public, because the people should see and it had been a strike against Mexico's prestige.
He suggested that there could have been political motivations behind the arrest noting that the US's investigation had been ongoing for years, but the arrest came shortly before the US presidential election.
The seven-year investigation by the US authorities was completely disproved by Cienfuegos within five days of having the US evidence shown to him, the statement said.
Cienfuegos is seen left alongside Mexico's then-President Enrique Pena Nieto during the annual Independence Day military parade in Mexico City's main square in November 2020
Cienfuegos is the highest-ranking former Mexican Cabinet official arrested since top security official Genaro Garcia Luna was arrested in Texas in 2019. Mexico demanded he be extradited last month
Few had ever expected Mexico to really prosecute Cienfuegos. López Obrador has relied more on the army than any other recent president, trusting it with everything from infrastructure projects to operating airports and trains.
Some thought Mexican prosecutors might dismiss the case on technical grounds of inadmissible evidence.
But the attorney general's office went further than that, absolutely clearing Cienfuegos of accusations that he helped a drug cartel in return for bribes in a move that could mar Mexico's already-bumpy relations with the US in the post-Trump era.
López Obrador had a close, friendly relationship with President Donald Trump, and waited longer than almost any other world leader to congratulate Joe Biden on his election.
Last month's restrictions by Mexico on US agents, and López Obrador's veiled warnings to the Biden team to stay out of Mexican affairs, appeared to foreshadow thorny relations. The Cienfuegos decision may only add to that perception.
Cienfuegos, a general who led Mexico's army department for six years under President Enrique Peña Nieto, was the highest-ranking former Mexican Cabinet official arrested since top security official Genaro Garcia Luna was arrested in Texas in 2019.
Mike Vigil, a former US Drug Enforcement Administration chief of international operations, expressed his dismay at the decision.
'This is a very big stain on the Mexican justice system,' Vigil said in a television interview with Mexican broadcaster Milenio.
Vigil said Ciefuegos' case would be a model for corruption and impunity in future.
The decision drew criticism from some Mexicans who saw the decision as another example of long-standing impunity for the military
Mexican university professor Carlos Bravo Regidor said the move lacked credibility without a proper trial
'Apart from that, the general is going to be a model of corruption and impunity, that's what it is about, in Mexico there is a justice system for some and another for those who have power,' he added.
'And this is going to have an extremely large impact on the bilateral coordination between the DEA and other agencies that work with Mexico because how can we trust the Mexican justice system?' Vigil said, adding that the evidence against Cienfuegos is 'overwhelming'.
Mexican columnist Juan Ibarrola told the news station that US ambassador Cristopher Landau said that there was no type of negotiation or any investigation by the Mexican government against Cienfuegos.
Reuters was not able to contact Ciefuegos.
His arrest in the United States followed a multi-year investigation that used wire taps to track a military figure who traffickers called 'El Padrino', or The Godfather.
He was accused of conspiring with the H-2 cartel in Mexico to smuggle thousands of kilos of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana while he was defense secretary from 2012 to 2018.
Prosecutors said intercepted messages showed that Cienfuegos accepted bribes in exchange for ensuring the military did not take action against the cartel and that operations were initiated against its rivals.
He was also accused of introducing cartel leaders to other corrupt Mexican officials.
Under the pressure of Mexico's implicit threats to restrict or expel US agents, US prosecutors dropped their case so Cienfuegos could be returned to Mexico and investigated under Mexican law.
Acting US Attorney Seth DuCharme told a judge at the time, 'The United States determined that the broader interest in maintaining that relationship in a cooperative way outweighed the department's interest and the public's interest in pursuing this particular case.'
Had Cienfuegos been convicted of the charges in the US, he would've faced at least 10 years in federal prison.
However, the attorney general's office said there was no evidence Cienfuegos had 'used any equipment or electronic means, or that he had issued any order to favor the criminal group identified in this case.'
Scrutiny of Cienfuegos' wealth and tax obligations uncovered no evidence that he had received illegal income, it said.
Duncan Wood, the director of Wilson International Center's Mexico Institute, who had been critical about the cases, reacted to the news on Twitter Friday
These were among the reasons authorities had decided not to pursue criminal charges against Cienfuegos, a former general, the attorney general's office added.
Some Mexicans saw the decision as another example of long-standing impunity for the military.
Mexican political writer Denise Dresser said the move showed the armed forces are 'untouchable' and 'act above the law.'
'hey are the true untouchables, they will continue to be out of democratic scrutiny, they are the ones who actually govern and have become the new mafia in power,' she said in a tweet in the wake of the news.
'Is it possible that Cienfuegos is innocent? Yes. Would it have been a great opportunity to show that in an impartial trial? Yes. Without any trial, is his innocence credible? No,' said Carlos Bravo Regidor, a CIDE University professor.
Even though the US yielded on Cienfuegos, Mexico's Congress a few weeks later passed a law that will restrict US agents in Mexico and remove their diplomatic immunity.
The law was widely seen as a broadside against the United States, after weeks of tension with Washington over anti-drug operations.
The decision to drop the charges was made by Attorney General William Barr in November based on the 'balancing of interests' between pursuing prosecution and of deference to America's relationship with Mexico
Mexico has traditionally relied on US agents to generate much of its intelligence information on drug gangs, but it has history of officials leaking such information and even at times sharing it with drug cartels.
The new law was considered a victory for Mexico's infamous drug cartels, with US Attorney General Bill Bar saying it will 'benefit the violent transnational criminal organizations and other criminals that we are jointly fighting'.
Lopez Obrador, who has been highly critical of the DEA since Cienfuegos's arrest, proposed the bill in early December.
Under the new law, all foreign agents will be forced to share information they gather in the country with Mexican authorities.
It also specifies that any Mexican public servant - state, federal or local - who has as much as a phone call or text message from a US agent, would be required 'to deliver a written report' to Mexican officials within three days.
In most countries, government agents are often given full diplomatic immunity or some form of limited or technical immunity in that country. The law, however, would eliminate all immunity.
Among the more onerous requirements, agents' meetings with local officials would have to be approved by a new federal government security committee and a foreign ministry official would have to be present at those meetings.
Mexico 'pressured DOJ into dropping drug charges against former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos by threatening to expel American agents'
Mexico allegedly pressured the Department of Justice into dropping drug trafficking and money laundering charges against former Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos by threatening to expel US drug agents from the country.
Three sources with knowledge of the situation described the alleged threat to the New York Times last month after a US federal judge granted Attorney General William Barr's request to drop the case against Cienfuegos and return him to Mexico to be investigated.
Cienfuegos, 72, was taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport in October after being accused of using his office to protect Mexico's H-2 narcotics cartel.
The Times sources said Cienfuego's arrest sparked outrage among the highest officials in the Mexican government, who had been kept in the dark about the DOJ's plans despite a long history of working closely with the US on drug cases.
Mexico lashed out at the perceived betrayal by issuing an unprecedented warning that it could move to expel American federal drug agents if the DOJ refused to abandon its case against Cienfuegos, the sources said.
Cienfuegos, who has 54 years of active military service, retired from the military in November 2018, a month before President Andres Manuel López Obrador took office
The DOJ appeared to heed that warning as Acting US Attorney Seth DuCharme brought Barr's decision to drop the charges to a judge during a hearing in New York on Wednesday.
DuCharme said the decision was based on the 'balancing of interests' between pursuing prosecution and of deference to the US's relationship with Mexico.
Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard alluded to outrage among members of his government after the hearing, saying he had told Barr that the US had to choose between trying Cienfuegos and having continued cooperation.
'It is in your hands. You can't have both,' Ebrard recalled telling Barr. 'You cannot have close cooperation with all of Mexico's institutions and at the same time do this.'
Barr later said in a statement that the Justice Department would drop its case so Cienfuegos so could be investigated under Mexican law.
He said the motion comes as recognition of 'the strong law enforcement partnership between Mexico and the United States, and in the interests of demonstrating our united front against all forms of criminality'.
Under an agreement signed by prosecutors and the general, Cienfuegos would depart the US for Mexico 'expeditiously in the custody of the US Marshals,' Carol Bagley Amon said. He would not be able to contest his removal or claim asylum in the US.
Cienfuegos (seen in the above court sketch in November 2020) will likely face charges in Mexico for using his office to protect Mexico's H-2 narcotics cartel
In announcing the dropping of the charges, Amon said: 'Although these are very serious charges against a very significant figure, and the old adage 'a bird in the hand' comes to mind, I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the government's decision.'
The Justice Department said it has provided Mexico with evidence collected in the case.
Cienfuegos' lawyers didn't contest the decision. They have previously said he is innocent.
Under Cienfuegos, the Mexican army was accused of frequent human rights abuses, but that was true of both his predecessors and his successor in the post.
The worst scandal in Cienfuegos' tenure involved the 2014 army killings of suspects in a grain warehouse.
Cienfuegos is seen left alongside Mexico's then-President Enrique Pena Nieto during the annual Independence Day military parade in Mexico City's main square in November 2020
The June 2014 massacre involved soldiers who killed 22 suspects at the warehouse in the town of Tlatlaya.
While some died in an initial shootout with the army patrol - in which one soldier was wounded - a human rights investigation later showed that at least eight and perhaps as many as a dozen suspects were executed after they surrendered.
The H-2 cartel is a name for the Beltran-Leyva gang that was founded by cousins of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman and was once engaged in a bloody war with his Sinaloa cartel.
The cartel made millions of dollars through the distribution of drugs in New York, North Carolina, Minnesota, Ohio and Las Vegas and Los Angeles, court documents say.
Cienfuegos's arrest marked the first time a former Mexican defense minister has been indicted and detained.
Cienfuegos was a powerful figure in Mexico's drug war in which the army battled cartels across the country.
The United States Defense Department awarded him the William J. Perry Award for Excellence in Security and Defense Education back in 2017.
Cienfuegos, who has 54 years of active military service, retired from the military in November 2018, a month before President Andres Manuel López Obrador took office.
He served as commander for the XV Military Zone, V Military Region in Jalisco, I Military Region in Mexico City and the VII Military Region in Chiapas.
Cienfuegos reportedly owns two houses, one apartment and a land plot along with several luxury vehicles.
At the time of his retirement, he declared to the Mexican government that he had $645,858 in his bank account.