MEXICO CITY.- He was the general in charge of defending Mexico and fighting the cartels together with the US authorities, but Salvador Cienfuegos rather
accepted bribes from a violent drug trafficking group
, the H-2, to allow the transfer of drugs through the border, according to the accusation of the US Attorney against the former Mexican secretary, arrested on Thursday in Los Angeles, California.
"When he was secretary of defense, the defendant, in exchange for bribes, assisted the H-2 cartel in various ways," says a court document about the arrest.
He thus assures that Cienfuegos achieved the release of detained cartel members, promoted the arrest and torture of rival drug traffickers, and
introduced members of H-2 "to other corrupt Mexican public servants willing to help them in exchange for bribes."
[Who is Salvador Cienfuegos? The history of military abuses with the general]
"The defendant prioritized his personal greed over his duties as a public official and ensured that one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations was successful and safe," the memo adds.
Cienfuegos
was nicknamed 'The Godfather' in the prosecution's accusation.
His judicial case, like that of many other Mexicans accused of drug trafficking in recent years, will take place more on US territory because that is where the charges were filed.
[After the arrest of Cienfuegos, Mexican President López Obrador defends the Army]
The accusation against Cienfuegos, 72, who was in charge of the Mexican National Defense Secretariat between 2012 and 2018, has existed since the middle of last year.
But it was published until this Friday, after the general's arrest at the Los Angeles airport.
Cienfuegos has a first hearing this afternoon in the court of the Central District of California, and will then be transferred to the Eastern District of New York.
[López Obrador admits that it was he who ordered the release of the son of 'El Chapo' in the failed operation against the Sinaloa Cartel]
2017 file photo of Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda with then-US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
In 2017, according to the accusations, Cienfuegos was already collaborating with a cartel.
In court documents, Cienfuegos is singled out for having taken advantage of his position as Secretary of National Defense, responsible for managing the Army and the Air Force.
The general, who reported directly to former President Enrique Peña Nieto, allegedly engaged in criminal activities between 2015 and 2017.
He is charged with four counts: conspiracy to import narcotics, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to launder drug money, and conspiracy to manufacture drugs.
If found guilty, he faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.
The tests are on the BlackBerry
The evidence against the retired general was obtained through the interception of BlackBerry Messenger messages, in which there would be evidence that he also notified the criminal organization if there were going to be operations against him and if there were investigations in the United States.
The US government affirms that in one of the messages between Cienfuegos and one of the H-2 leaders,
the Mexican general admitted to having assisted other criminal organizations in the past.
[Enrique Peña Nieto in the sights of Mexican justice for alleged acts of corruption]
Cienfuegos, according to the prosecution documents, also allowed the cartel to extend the territory under its control throughout the city of Mazatlán and the rest of the border state of Sinaloa.
The defunct BlackBerry Messenger was a popular method of communication among Mexican cartels, as recorded in court documents from other trials in the Eastern District of New York.
For example, in the trial against Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, it was described that the Sinaloa Cartel paid millions of dollars to obtain encrypted BlackBerry devices (one of them colored pink to supposedly communicate with actress Kate del Castillo).
The FBI reviewed more than 1,500 BlackBerry messages that were part of the evidence to convict the Mexican kingpin.
In the New York district court it was the trial against 'El Chapo', where several witnesses indicated that they had allegedly given bribes to various Mexican officials.
In that court another process for drug trafficking is also being developed against another high-ranking former Mexican official, the former Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna.
General Cienfuegos will be transferred to a court in New York, the same one that tried 'El Chapo' Guzmán
Oct. 16, 202002: 09
Prosecutor Seth DuCharme
requested that Cienfuegos not be released from prison on bail
, as he assures that there is a high risk of escape.
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The prosecution's argument is that, thanks to his alleged links with criminal organizations and corrupt Mexican officials, the general could hide in Mexico to escape US justice.
"The defendant has access to several influential and sophisticated people who could assist him if he returns to Mexico," the document says.
The H-2 cartel: "countless acts of horrifying violence"
The organized crime group that calls itself H-2 emerged with Juan Francisco Patrón Sánchez, who was part of the Sinaloa Cartel and later joined the rival Beltrán Leyva cartel.
Patron Sánchez called himself H-2.
The group of the Beltrán Leyva brothers was particularly bloodthirsty, with beheadings of adversaries and the use of so-called narcomantas, advertisements deployed in crowded areas or from bridges to launch threats.
Patron Sánchez died in 2017 - he
was killed by authorities with gunshots from a helicopter
- but the cartel is still active, especially in the state of Sinaloa.
According to the prosecutor's office investigating Cienfuegos, the group also has a presence in Nayarit.
[Which is more powerful, the Sinaloa Cartel or the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel?]
"During the period under investigation, the
H-2 Cartel had several distribution cells in the United States
, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Ohio, Minnesota, North Carolina and New York" with which it moved drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. , according to legal documents.
“In Mexico, the H-2 Cartel has trafficked hundreds of lethal firearms and committed countless acts of grisly violence,
including torture and homicide
, to ward off challenges from rival groups, seize territory and silence those who would cooperate. with the authorities, ”says the prosecution.
The site where a shooting took place that resulted in the death of Juan Francisco Patron Sánchez, alias 'H-2', in Tepic, Nayari, in 2017.
Cienfuegos is not the only high-ranking public servant to be persecuted by the Eastern District of New York for his affiliation with the H-2 cartel.
Edgar Veitya, a former Nayarit state attorney general, was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison for conspiring internationally to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana in exchange for bribes.