The report that accuses AMLO’s campaign of receiving money from drug trafficking for the 2006 elections

Journalist Tim Golden, two-time winner of the Pulitzer journalism prize, published an investigation in the American media on Wednesday ProPublica where he states that Sinaloa Cartel gave 2 million dollars to the campaign Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) for the 2006 presidential elections, something that was emphatically rejected by the current president of Mexico.

The author of the report claims that he had access to an investigation conducted between 2010 and 2011 by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

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In accordance with ProPublica, According to official government documents and more than a dozen interviews with U.S. and Mexican officials, the money was given to campaign advisors in exchange for the promise that a future administration of Lopez Obrador would facilitate the criminal operations of drug traffickers.

The medium specifies that The investigation did not conclusively determine whether López Obrador had approved these alleged donations., not even if I knew about them. But officials said the probe, which was put together through extensive cooperation from a former campaign operative and a drug trafficker turned informant, produced evidence that at least one of Trump’s closest advisers AMLO had accepted the agreement proposed by the Sinaloa Cartel.

2008, the beginning

How did it all start? According to journalist Golden, The first source of the DEA agents was Roberto López Nájeraa lawyer who in 2008 voluntarily presented himself to the United States Embassy in Mexico asking to speak to someone DEA.

The two agents who came down to meet him heard a story that they considered convincing, says ProPublica. Lopez Najera He told them that during the last years he had served as legal advisor within the company of one of the best-known traffickers in Mexico, Edgar Valdez Villareal, alias ‘La Barbie’who was a prominent member of the Beltrán Leyva Cartelwho in turn had relations with the Sinaloa Cartel.

But only in 2010 the DEA began to focus on one of the most shocking revelations he made Lopez Najera in his multiple interviews with both US and Mexican authorities.

In an interview in San Diego, Lopez Najera had told that ‘The Barbie‘ called him to a meeting in January 2006 at a hotel in Nuevo Vallarta, on the Pacific coast. They attended the meeting Francisco Leon Garciaa mining businessman from Durango that he was a friend of one of ‘La Barbie’s’ lieutenants, Sergio Villareal Barragán (‘El Grande’), and another man.

“The two men said they were there with the knowledge and authorization of López Obrador, explained López Nájera. In exchange for an injection of money, León said, the campaign pledged that a future López Obrador government would select law enforcement officials who would be helpful to traffickers… Even more importantly, U.S. officials said, they were also told to the traffickers that López Obrador would not appoint an attorney general that they perceived as hostile to their interests,” the report states.

‘The Barbie’ accepted the deal and sent Lopez Najera to deliver the money to Mauricio Soto Caballero and Nicolas Mollinedo, who was head of logistics for AMLO’s campaign. Thus, the Sinaloa Cartel gave approximately two million dollars in cash in three deliveries to Soto and other members of the campaign over the following months, López Nájera reported to the DEA.

But the triumph of Felipe Calderon in the 2006 presidential elections Mexico broke up the alleged agreement between drug trafficking and the campaign AMLO. According to López Nájera, ‘The Barbie‘improvised a plan to kidnap the president of the electoral tribunal and force him to revoke the ruling of victory to give victory to AMLO. The drug trafficker sent a caravan of gunmen to storm the court, but they aborted the plan when they discovered that army soldiers were protecting the place.

After insisting for days that he was the rightful winner, Lopez Obrador He gathered thousands of his supporters at the Mexico City for a protest sit-in that lasted months and covered a large part of the colonial center of the capital. According to Lopez Najera‘The Barbie’ He also donated funds to help feed protesters, ProPublica said.

Investigation closed in 2011

Tim Golden reported that Soto Caballero He also ended up collaborating with US justice, after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to traffic drugs. During several interviews with Southern District prosecutors, he confirmed that he had received two deliveries of money from Lopez Najera for the 2006 campaign and that ‘The Barbie’ had sent a third shipment.

ProPublica interviewed Nicolas Mollinedowho denied accepting donations from drug traffickers and rejected the idea that Lopez Obrador I would tolerate such corruption. “We didn’t handle money”said.

The report claims that some US officials considered that The evidence was not strong enough to justify the risks of an extensive covert operation in Mexico.

But at the end of 2011, DEA agents proposed an operation in which they would offer $5 million in alleged drug money to people working on the second presidential campaign of Lopez Obrador.

The agents’ plan was to confirm the evidence they had accumulated about the traffickers’ donations in 2006 and try to recreate that scheme in the new campaign. Lopez Obrador for the 2012 elections, but this time recording everything in audio and video. The investigation was called Operation Polanco.

However, the plan was not pursued and Justice Department officials closed the investigation, according to Golden’s article.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed to the EFE agency that The investigation was closed in 2011. He also told her that the investigation was conducted under the “protocol for handling sensitive international investigations.”

AMLO assures that it is a “slander”

On Wednesday, during his daily press conference, AMLO described the information as “false” and said it was a “slander”. Besides, He accused the United States of sponsoring “immoral practices.”

“They are certainly very upset and unfortunately the press (…) not only in Mexico (but) in the world is very subordinated to power,” he asserted.

“I do not denounce the journalist or journalists, I do not denounce the media. I denounce the United States government for allowing these immoral practices and contrary to the political ethics that should prevail in all governments in the world,” said the leftist president.

“You have to say the DEA whether it is true or not true. What is the research they did. But not the DEA: the State Department. “That’s really the problem, and it’s from a long time ago,” he said. AMLO.

Lopez Obrador He maintained that such complaints are part of the attacks of his adversaries ahead of the presidential elections on June 2, whose polls are led by the official candidate Claudia Sheinbaum.

DEA agent: “There is no evidence”

The CNN network interviewed Mike Vigil, former head of International Operations at the DEAwho said that no evidence was ever found indicating that Lopez Obrador He was aware of the entry of illicit money into his campaign.

“Yes, a person who was very close to him, named Nicolas Mollinedoand he was apparently recorded talking to a person who was collaborating with the DEA and he says ‘well, if there is a problem we are going to talk to the attorney so he can resolve it’. That’s something that made me curious because if Lopez Obrador If he were involved, he would have said, I am going to talk to the president so that he can resolve this situation,” Vigil said.

“It was never mentioned that López Obrador was involved, there are no recordings, so this note came at a very bad time, since relations are not very good between the DEA and the Mexican Government, and now I think they are going to get worse” , he continued.

“I do not understand why the journalist published this note, especially when this case is already old, it is no longer relevant, it simply damages relations between Mexico and the United States,” Vigil concluded.