The Department of Justice (DOJ) is condemning the Mexican government for its decision not to file drug-related charges and subsequently to close the country’s investigation into the former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos.
According Reuters, a Justice Department spokesman said on Friday that he was “deeply disappointed” by the decision not to open charges, a move by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
publicly supported earlier in the day.
In a brief statement in response to the decision, the Justice Department said: “The United States reserves the right to restart the process against Cienfuegos if the Government of Mexico does not do so.”
Reuters reported that at the instructions of López Obrador, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico published a 751-page document showing records of American evidence compiled against Cienfuegos, including records of alleged telephone communications.
A DOJ spokesman told Reuters that the agency was also “deeply disappointed” by the decision to release this information to the public.
“The disclosure of such information violates the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between Mexico and the United States and questions whether the United States can continue to share information to support Mexico’s own criminal investigations,” said the spokesman.
Cienfuegos, who served as Mexico’s defense secretary between 2012 and 2018, was arrested at Los Angeles airport in October and charged with drug trafficking and money laundering in connection with the powerful H-2 drug cartel.
However, the DOJ in November dropped the charges against Cienfuegos and agreed to release him to Mexico after the country opened its own investigation, the then attorney general William Barr
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Many condemned the US action, including the senator. Bob Menendez
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He added in the statement: “For someone who launched his entire presidency conjuring up xenophobic images of drug dealers running wildly along the US-Mexico border, there is no explanation for the attorney general. [William] Barr’s decision to abruptly drop the drug trafficking charges against General Cienfuegos ”.
Menendez went on to argue that, with the decision, “Attorney General Barr is at risk of undermining that faith in the United States justice system and encouraging impunity at the highest levels in Mexico.”
Menendez’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request to comment on Friday’s decision by Mexican authorities.