The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, attacked The New York Times this Thursday after sending it a questionnaire in a tone – according to him – “threatening and arrogant”, regarding a report that the newspaper is carrying out on an investigation by the Administration Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigating alleged drug trafficking financing of his 2018 presidential campaign.
López Obrador specified that the questionnaire, sent to the presidential spokesman, Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, referred to a different investigation than the one that the DEA had made public a few weeks ago and that spoke about his 2006 presidential campaign. The president said that the The newspaper gave him until 5:00 pm last Wednesday, February 21, to send his comments, but he preferred to do so in his usual morning appearance.
There, the president read the entire message sent by the newspaper's correspondent in Mexico, Natalie Kitroeff, and answered one by one the six questions in which he made it clear that all the allegations were unfounded.
“You are fakers, those of the New York Times and those who sent you to do the report,” she added.
In response, The New York Times published a statement in X in which they regret the action of López Obrador, who even read Kitroeff's contact number during the conference.
“This is a worrying and unacceptable tactic by a world leader at a time when threats against journalists are on the rise.
We have published the article in question and we support our reporting work and the journalists who go after information wherever it is found.”
The National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) indicated in its X account that it “will initiate an ex officio investigation” regarding the disclosure of Kitroeff's telephone number by the president.
The investigation indicated that it seeks to establish “if there are violations of principles and duties established in the general law on the protection of personal data.”
“Completely false”
The Mexican president denied that allies close to him had met with drug cartels and received millions of dollars from drug trafficking.
He said that it was a lie that the investigation into these incidents had been closed due to the reaction of “outrage” within the Government of Mexico, especially among members of the Army — who have acquired more power in the current six-year term — after the arrest in 2020. of General Salvador Cienfuegos in Los Angeles and due to fears of a possible diplomatic conflict between both countries.
In addition, AMLO described as “completely false” the version of a DEA informant that one of the president's closest confidants met with Ismael Zambada García, one of the main leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, prior to the 2018 electoral process. .
Then, López Obrador said that it was “another slander” the story of a DEA informant who claimed that one of the founders of the Zetas cartel paid four million dollars to two of his allies, after being elected president of Mexico. .
Likewise, regarding the versions that the cartels had videos where they could see their children receiving money from drug trafficking, the president stated that the newspaper's type of journalism was a “shame.”
“Where are the videos?
They are in clear decline;
"It's a filthy pamphlet."
[Author of the ProPublica investigation says that AMLO dispatches “many insults” and “little substance”]
Reliving one of the moments that has generated the greatest criticism during his administration, AMLO indicated that in March 2020, when he received a letter from the mother of drug trafficker Joaquín Guzmán Loera, he had gone to “supervise a road” built in the area. and denied that drug trafficking payments had been made to his close people during the same time.
Finally, regarding what was revealed by ProPublica about the alleged connections of drug trafficking with his 2006 presidential campaign, López Obrador said that he had spoken with US security affairs advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randal, who assured him It was “a canceled investigation that was never important.”
AMLO indicated that he hopes that the United States Government will also rule on the matter, although he clarified that relations cannot be affected because they are obliged to maintain them "because we are the main trading partners, because we are neighbors, because 40 million Mexicans live in the US." "and because politics was invented among other things to avoid confrontation."
However, López Obrador said that “time will tell” if this will decrease the Mexican government's trust in the United States.
The report was published hours later by The New York Times, with a headline that translates:
The United States examined accusations of cartel ties with allies of the president of Mexico
.
The newspaper clarified in its report that, despite the investigation, the United States never opened a formal investigation into AMLO and his relatives involved, due to the lack of interest in targeting one of the country's main allies, according to three sources. related to the case who were not authorized to speak publicly.
The newspaper's work stated that, although drug cartels have long infiltrated the Mexican state at all levels, US officials did
not find any direct connection between the president and criminal organizations.
Furthermore, the report stated that much of the information collected by US officials came from informants "whose accounts can be difficult to corroborate and sometimes end up being incorrect."
A case against AMLO: "Particularly difficult"
Likewise, although for the United States to file criminal charges against senior foreign officials is a rare and complicated task, building a legal case against López Obrador “would be particularly difficult,” The New York Times stated.
The last time the United States brought criminal charges against a senior Mexican official, it ended up dropping them after his arrest sparked a diplomatic rift with Mexico.
Currently, the Biden Administration considers López Obrador indispensable to try to contain the considerable increase in illegal migrant crossings on the border between both countries, an issue that has taken on predominant importance ahead of the November elections.
In addition, the newspaper recalled that Mexico is one of the main trading partners of the United States and the most important collaborator in its efforts to stop the passage of illicit drugs such as fentanyl across the border.