President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed that, because it was infiltrated by crime, his government last year dissolved an anti-narcotics unit trained by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to combat organized crime.
“And it was shown that this group was infiltrated by crime, that even one of its bosses is being tried in the United States,” he said, without elaborating on the matter.
He denied that the decision affects bilateral cooperation between Mexico and the United States on security matters.
“Do not. Look, that happened more than a year ago, already with the change in policy, because we maintain cooperation with international organizations in charge of security, but we try to respect our sovereignty.
“And before they entered and left the country and did, they commanded, they did what they wanted, they even fabricated crimes. So, you already know that order was put in place and there is a cooperative relationship, but with respect for our sovereignty.”
According to the Reuters information agency, the aforementioned anti-narcotics unit was created in 1997, and worked on cases such as the capture in 2016 of the then leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín el Chapo Guzmán.
Even the writer Enrique Krauze, he said, complained about the cancellation of the group that was dedicated to confronting crime. “As if we weren’t doing anything or were accomplices, paleros, chalanes. No, they lack information, that was done about a year ago. And it was shown that this group was infiltrated by criminals.”
The relationship with the United States is good, he reiterated, but with respect.
“It is no longer the time when Calderón and Sarukhán were ambassadors, and they entered and even put weapons; It is no longer the time of those operatives, like the Fast and Furious. Not anymore”.
That strategy, he said, incredible as it may seem, consisted of placing sensors on weapons to detect who used them and thus arrest criminals, “when the government was completely infiltrated.”
A pending matter is for Calderón to explain, he said, why he allowed institutions of the Mexican State to put themselves at the service of foreign agencies.