MEXICO CITY (AP) – The day after Mexico angered American officials by publishing a 751-page file of an American case against former Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos, the Mexican prosecutors who exonerated him released their own version – but with so many pages completely erased it was almost impossible to say what they found.
The report released on Sunday by the Mexican Attorney General’s Office included a 226-page excerpt with all pages erased, followed shortly after by a 275-page excerpt with erased pages.
In the few sections with less writing, all names and images have been deleted.
Authorities appeared to be struggling to control the damage to the justice system’s reputation after prosecutors took just five days to completely absolve retired general Cienfuegos of US allegations, supported by years of investigation, that he helped drug traffickers in return. bribes.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Saturday considered the case of the United States “forged” and his government released the documentation that US prosecutors sent when they released Cienfuegos as a diplomatic concession to Mexico and sent it to be investigated at home.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the release of the full evidence report violated a legal aid treaty and questioned whether the U.S. can continue to share information.
That security relations further embittered by the Mexican government’s decision to restrict US agents and remove their immunity, even after Cienfuegos returned home, rather than face trial in the US
The president said that although many Mexicans view the courts in the United States as “the good, perfect judges … in this case, with all due respect, those who did this investigation did not act professionally”.
In the recently released Mexican report, what little was visible seemed to involve asking the army to investigate whether the charges were credible and trusting what Cienfuegos officially declared as a prescription.
For example, one of the few readable documents is a report by an army communications officer (name written) saying that no Army Blackberry had been officially assigned to Cienfuegos or anyone else.
The 751-page file that US officials shared with Mexico largely consists of exchanged intercepted BlackBerry messages between traffickers since they were killed, describing negotiations with a person they identify as Cienfuegos, often referring to him by the nickname “The Godfather”.
López Obrador relied heavily on the military for a wide range of projects, far beyond security, and his government apparently responded to military outrage at the Cienfuegos arrest, claiming that they had not been adequately informed of the case by US officials. Americans.
Cienfuegos was arrested in Los Angeles in October, but the United States government dropped the charges against him in November after Mexican officials threatened to restrain American agents.
The American documents released include alleged text messages intercepted between the leader of the H-2 cartel based in the state of Nayarit, on the Pacific coast, and a senior adviser, who allegedly acted as an intermediary with the general.
In an exchange, Daniel Silva Garate told his boss, Juan Francisco Patrón Sánchez, that he had been picked up by men with short military-style haircuts and was taken to the Department of Defense headquarters in Mexico City for a meeting with “O Godfather. “
Silva-Garate tells his boss that “The Godfather” said to him “Now we are going to do great things with you … that what you did is insignificant”.
Patrón Sanchez says he wants unmolested routes to transport drugs from Colombia and Silva Garate sends messages back: “He says that while you’re here, you’ll be free … that they will never carry out strong operations” or raids.
Silva Garate tells his boss that “The Godfather” said to him: “You can sleep in peace, no operation will touch you”.
Other exchanges describe The Godfather allegedly offering to arrange a boat to help transport drugs, introducing traffickers to other authorities and acknowledging having helped other traffickers in the past.