MEXICO CITY — Late last year, tensions between the United States and Mexico were raised after the arrest of a former Mexican secretary of Defense on American soil. After diplomatic negotiations, the general was extradited to Mexico to face justice. And now, to the surprise of many, the general has been released.
The DEA accused General Salvador Cienfuegos of aiding drug trafficking and organized crime.
After reviewing the information shared by the agency, which consisted of screenshots from a smartphone, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office determined there’s insufficient evidence.
As a result of the Cienfuegos' arrest, the Mexican government started to regulate and limit the operation in the country of foreign agencies, such as the DEA, claiming a lack of cooperation.
"Why did the U.S. investigate Cienfuegos without evidence?" said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He said it shouldn’t be dismissed that the arrest happened right before the U.S. elections.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the text messages on the screenshots were false, by which a drug lord used Cienfuegos’s identity to dismiss his rivals.
