NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday formally ruled in favor of a former Mexican defense secretary in a drug trafficking and money laundering case, a decision that came after Mexico threatened to cut off cooperation with U.S. authorities until the general was sent home. .
A New York City judge, in the case of former General Salvador CNFugos, who was arrested a few weeks ago in Los Angeles, approved the dismissal of the charge, but will return to Mexico under an unusual diplomatic deal. Two countries.
“The United States determined that the wider interest to maintain that relationship cooperatively outweighed the department’s interest and the public’s interest in advancing this particular case,” Brooklyn’s acting U.S. attorney, Seth Ducharm, told the judge at the hearing.
He said the decision to drop the charges was made by Attorney General William Barr.
Mexican officials have complained that the U.S. failed to share evidence against Synephugos and his arrest came as a surprise. It also set off alarms within the Mexican military, which has played a crucial role in cracking down on the drug cartel.
Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ibard said Wednesday he told the bar that the U.S. has to choose between trying CNFuegos and continuing to cooperate.
“It is in your hands. You can’t have both, “Ibard told the bar. “You cannot have close cooperation with all Mexican organizations and do this at the same time.”
When Ibard said he was a U.S. citizen in Mexico. Not threatening to take any “specific action” such as limiting agents, he said of Burr: “I imagine he cares.” He also said he had called on US Ambassador Christopher Landau to express Mexico’s displeasure.
It is rare for a high-value defendant to be arrested in a U.S. case for diplomatic reasons and then released in a short order. But it is not unprecedented, although historically it is more likely to happen in cases involving espionage than drug trafficking.
U.S. arrests And threatened to seriously damage the delicate relationship between Mexican investigators who have blamed numerous drug kingpins in the last quarter of a century. Leaving the case was a shame for U.S. officials, who hailed his arrest as a major success.
The U.S. has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan against a government-owned bank accused of violating sanctions on Iran. Prosecutors have recently opposed diplomatic efforts by another U.S. ally, Turkey.
A senior CNFugos general, Genro Garcia Luna, who led Mexico’s military for six years under then-President Enrique Pe નિa Nieto, was arrested in Texas in 2019 after top Mexican cabinet officials were arrested.
Synefugos was secretly convicted by a federal grand jury in New York in 2019. He was accused of conspiring with the H-2 cartel in Mexico to smuggle thousands of kilograms of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana while he was Secretary of Defense from 2012 to 2018. .
Prosecutors said the intercepted messages showed that Senefugos had promised not to prosecute the military cartel in return for taking bribes and that action had been initiated against its rivals. He was accused of introducing cartel leaders along with other corrupt Mexican officials.
President Man્dres Manuel Lપેpez Obrador said Mexico’s attorney general would decide whether to keep Cinefugos in custody after his return. But given that no charges have yet been levied in Mexico, it is likely that he will be released. “This does not mean salvation; That means an investigation will be launched, “said LaPaz Obrador.
“General Cinfuegos returned to Mexico as a free man,” Ibard said.
Analysts said Synefugos is unlikely to face costs in Mexico.
Carlos Lorette de Mola, a columnist for Al Universal, wrote: “It’s not going to happen, we all know it.” “He will return to Mexico and be free, as President López Obrador has promised to the military.”
Judge Carol Bugle told Amo that Cinefugos would send the U.S. to Mexico under an agreement reached between the plaintiff and the general. That U.S. Will not be able to remove it or claim asylum
Outside the Brooklyn courthouse, defense attorney Edward Sapone said he expected Cinephagos to return to Mexico on Wednesday, when his cell phone and computer tablet were seized, when he was arrested, while his lawyers later sent him away. He noted that Synefugos had pleaded not guilty and planned to prove his innocence.
“We did a very blessed justice today,” Sappon said as people protesting his client’s release put up signs and chanted nearby.
Answering the judge’s few questions through an interpreter, CNFuegos spoke briefly in court.
Barry said in a statement Tuesday that the Justice Department would drop its case so that Synefugos, who was arrested in Los Angeles last month, could investigate under Mexican law.
“I have no reason to doubt the integrity of the government’s position,” he said, urging Amo to drop the case.
In a joint statement with Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Maniro, Bair said the U.S. Department of Justice “decided to drop the U.S. case, recognizing the strong law enforcement partnership between Mexico and the United States, and in the interests of all protesters . ”
The Justice Department said it had provided Mexico with evidence gathered in the case.
López Obrador has assigned more tasks to the Mexican army and navy than most other previous Mexican presidents, and he has been under pressure to win the return of Cienfuegos.
The old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, of which Peનાa Nieto belongs, had earlier called on the Mexican government to pay Sinefugos legal fees and on Tuesday celebrated its decision to drop the charges. Party leader Alejandro Moreno wrote on his Twitter account that the party “General. Salvador endorses Cinfugos. … We should all congratulate ourselves and always support the armed forces. “
On Tuesday, Ebard denied that the decision was related to the US election or the failure to congratulate Biden, the president-elect of L-Page Obrador. Ibard said he spoke with the bar on Oct. 26, a week before the U.S. election.
Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the decision from President Donald Trump in favor of past assistance on possible immigration issues to La Paz Obrador was “nothing but a great gift.”
He said the prospect of Cinefugos being convicted in Mexico was “not slim for anyone,” given the former defense secretary’s political affiliations in Mexico and the country’s military idolatry.
Alejandro Hope, a Mexican security analyst, said any decision not to try the synephugos would further damage Mexico’s already tarnished judicial system.
“Anyone who knows the Mexican judicial system doesn’t really believe it will be prosecuted in Mexico,” Hope said. “The external commitment to the autonomy of the Mexican Attorney General’s office has always been a fantasy.”
Nevertheless, Hope said, there may be an opportunity for a trial to overturn the traditional untouchability of the military in Mexico: the opportunity to improve civilian-military relations in Mexico has been lost.
Obrador, who initially appeared to be celebrating Cinephugos’ capture, denied Wednesday that the Mexican military had pressured him to release the general.
Military analyst Juan Iberrola, who has always reflected the views of the Mexican military, agreed that there was no pressure, but added: “I think it is very possible that the Mexican government will issue an arrest warrant.”
Sapon said defense attorneys have always known there would be “dismissal or any kind of support”.
He added that “his client’s plans” are to stay with his family as a free man in the near future. “
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