Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador presented a medal to a cartel-connected Army general who spent time in a U.S. jail awaiting trial on drug charges. The general was ultimately turned over to Mexico, where he was released.
President Lopez Obrador visited Mexico’s Military College this week for their 200-aniversary celebration. During the visit, the president awarded a medal to General Salvador Cienfuegos, a former secretary of defense for Mexico and a former director of the military academy that hosted the event. Lopez Obrador did not give speeches during the ceremony but defended his actions the following day.
On Thursday morning, Lopez Obrador defended the controversial ceremony, claiming that Cienfuegos had been absolved of all criminal allegations and that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had fabricated the case against him in revenge for Mexico not giving free rein to U.S. agents inside the country.
“We were able to ascertain that it was revenge, and there were no elements,” Lopez Obrador said during his morning news conference. “Then, the DEA people were left very upset, and they wanted a Mexican army; the Mexican armed forces weakened sitting on the bench of the accused so they could do as they please in Mexico like (Former Mexican President Felipe) Calderon allowed them to.”
As Breitbart Texas reported, U.S. federal agents arrested Salvador Cienfuegos in 2020 on drug trafficking charges stemming from a criminal indictment. Court documents identified Cienfuegos as “The Godfather” and detailed his close working relationship with various drug cartels, particularly the Beltran Leyva cartel remnants.
However, in 2021, in a very controversial move that came after much diplomatic wrangling, the U.S. Department of Justice dismissed the case against Cienfuegos so Mexico could prosecute him first. However, just hours after arriving in Mexico, authorities in Mexico released him. Soon after, the Mexican prosecutors dismissed all charges against him. As Breitbart Texas reported, months later, Lopez Obrador published court documents and classified evidence that was shared with Mexico through diplomatic channels. At the time, the president claimed the information showed that Cienfuegos was innocent.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
“L.P. Contreras” from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles contributed to this report.
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