The director of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Terry Cole, has criticized institutional corruption in Mexico, particularly the ties between local officials and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the continent, responsible for the manufacture and trafficking of drugs, and other illicit businesses, such as fuel theft. “We are exchanging information [with Mexico] not only about targets and members of terrorist organizations, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG, but we are also supporting operations in Mexico,” he said.
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Cole made these statements to the Univisión network, in an interview given within the framework of the International Conference for Drug Control held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a few days ago. The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Mexico and spokesperson for the Security Cabinet, Omar García Harfuch, also attended the conference. Cole and Harfuch have shown good rapport, as has been customary in recent months. “I said the other day, Omar wants the best for his country. I want the best for the United States,” he noted.
Cole dedicated much of his intervention to the CJNG, one of the obsessions in recent times on both sides of the border. Since February, the Mexican Government, sometimes supported by information generated north of the Rio Bravo, has taken down the leader of the criminal group, Nemesio Oseguera, alias Mencho; has arrested one of the candidates to succeed him, Audias Flores, alias Jardinero; has arrested one of its main operators in Michoacán, Ramón Álvarez Ayala, the R1, and was close to arresting another, Heraclio Guerrero, the Tío Lako, this very week.
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The senior official sent a message to the political class in Mexico, for their alleged ties with the CJNG, something he said he has already been able to document regarding the other major criminal group in the country, the Sinaloa Cartel. “In the recent indictment that was declassified, governmental corruption in Mexico is observed, with high-level officials working directly with the cartels,” he said, referring to the U.S. Attorney’s indictment against Sinaloan politicians, including the former governor, Rubén Rocha, revealed in April.
“Two weeks ago we warned those same government officials who currently work with the CJNG. This is a collective effort to protect our U.S. citizens,” he concluded.
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