Senator Alejandro “Alito” Moreno, head of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), publicly accused MORENA Senate Coordinator Adán Augusto López of enabling cartel operations while serving as interior secretary and governor of Tabasco. He announced Tuesday that his party had formally asked U.S. federal agencies to investigate López’s alleged role in fuel smuggling, money laundering, and organized crime.
The top-level Mexican politician announced that he and his party sent a series of letters to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, accusing the Mexican Senate leader — a member of the MORENA party — of having been a cartel enabler while working as the country’s secretary of the interior and also while being a state governor.
On Tuesday afternoon, Senator Moreno, the leader of the opposition PRI party, held a news conference at Mexico’s Senate building, where he announced that they sent a letter to U.S. authorities asking them to investigate MORENA’s Senate Leader Adan Augusto Lopez for his role as a cartel enabler and for being a member of what they called the Cartel de Macuspana.
According to Moreno, Lopez acted under orders of former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) in establishing a large-scale corruption network that included illegal fuel smuggling, drug trafficking, and embezzlement of government programs.
The claims by Moreno come at a time when Mexico’s ruling party has been rocked by the arrests of several top officials with the country’s Navy over their alleged role in the smuggling of cartel fuel. Additional allegations point to key Naval officials also having helped run arms smuggling operations for drug cartels. As Breitbart Texas reported, the ongoing fuel smuggling case has allegedly implicated two of Lopez Obrador’s sons as having helped set up and protect that operation.
A second case implicated Adan Augusto Lopez in allegations of ties with criminal organizations. As Breitbart Texas reported, authorities in Paraguay recently arrested Hernan “Comandante H,” or “Abuelo” Bermudez, the former top police official in Tabasco State when Lopez served as governor. Bermudez, who is one of Lopez’s best friends, is accused of having been the leader of La Barredora, an armed wing of Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) that carried out numerous murders and abductions as part of a turf war on behalf of the cartel.
Moreno’s claims have encountered some resistance since his own party has a long history of corruption and ties to criminal organizations. Two former PRI governors who served in Tamaulipas faced criminal indictments in the United States on money laundering charges tied to their connections with the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. As Breitbart Texas reported, former Tamaulipas Governor Tomas Yarrington pleaded guilty while Eugenio Hernandez remains at large, living in Mexico, where he recently ran an unsuccessful bid for political office under another party.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s 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 News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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