López Obrador defends the publication of the DEA file on Cienfuegos against the disappointment of the United States

López Obrador, this Monday at the National Palace PRESIDENCY / EFE

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, defended this Monday at a press conference that the publication of the file of the United States anti-drug agency (DEA, for its acronym in English) against former Secretary of National Defense Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda by alleged links with drug trafficking and money laundering.

"We cannot fabricate crimes for anyone, so what we did was the right thing to do, it is ethical," the president insisted despite the message of discontent from the US Department of Justice for the dissemination of confidential information.

López Obrador has assured that relations with his neighboring country continue to be good, but warns that if the US is going to reconsider sharing information as announced in the statement, they should "think it through."

"I could also say the same, that we are disappointed with the work of the DEA, but we better leave it like that," he said.

Last Friday, the Attorney General's Office published on its social networks the 700-page report of the DEA with the thousands of interceptions of cell phone messages attributed to General Cienfuegos and drug trafficking leaders.

A few hours earlier, the same body announced that it was exonerating the general of accusations by the United States of cooperating with the Beltrán Leyva clan of drug traffickers, a charge for which he had been investigated and arrested on October 15 in Los Angeles.

After the filing of the investigation by the FGR, who took up the case to prosecute the general under Mexican law, released the file without censorship and with confidential information from the DEA.

"What we did was make the file known so that it would be known without hiding anything that there are no elements, that in fact the crime was fabricated, or the crimes were fabricated, regardless of who the person is," the president justified.

López Obrador has once again increased diplomatic tension between the two countries.

After accusing the anti-narcotics agency of "fabricating" the accusation against the general, he has reiterated that the report of the case that took years of follow-up to the US Justice, does not have sufficient evidence.

"It is not possible that an investigation is carried out with such irresponsibility, without sustenance and that we remain silent," he indicated before adding that the authors of the document assembled it without professionalism and without ethics.

He acknowledges that the decision to publish confidential information is unpublished, but "the circumstances demanded it" because "the prestige of Mexico" is at stake.

The arrest of the former defense secretary, responsible for combating drug trafficking, cast doubt on the Mexican Army, a tool that the president has frequently used to deploy his social programs.

In addition, he has pointed out that the WhatsApp messages in the report allegedly written by the general were full of spelling mistakes and that they do not correspond to a high-level official.

"That is why it is important that the file be seen," he insisted.

“How can you blame someone from phone screen photos?

Anyone can do that ”, he said.

Mexico, to the surprise of Cienfuegos's arrest in October, waged a diplomatic fight for him to be extradited.

The US withdrew the charges on the pretext that "there are sensitive and important foreign policy considerations that outweigh the government's interest in pursuing the trial against the accused."

After the joint communiqué of both governments, there were reports that Mexico conditioned collaboration in the fight against drugs if the general's case was not reversed.

The president has pointed out that in times of elections, such as those that positioned Joe Biden as the next US president in the midst of a tense process, there are always "passions" and "political confrontation."

"I think that since the elections were involved, I do not know which agency made the decision to promote this trial or accelerate the investigation and with those elements detain the general," he explained.

López Obrador has pointed out that despite the investigations dating back to 2013, they only detained him 18 days before the elections.

"The truth is very strange to me because it is most irresponsible, there is no professionalism," he concluded.