Washington DC.- The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) vowed Thursday to prosecute government corruption in Mexico that protects fentanyl trafficking if evidence shows officials are involved.
During a hearing at the Capitol, the head of the anti-drug agency Anne Milgram was asked if she had confidence in Mexican government officials to which she replied that the most recent accusation against the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel mentions the existence of corruption.
“In the accusation against Los Chapitos we talk about corruption. We talk about the corruption that fuels drug trafficking in Mexico and in the world. So again I tell you: We will go as far as the evidence and the facts take us,” he replied. Milgram to a direct question from Republican Congressman Jake Ellzey.
Two weeks ago, the US government filed a criminal indictment against 28 individuals in the Southern District Court of New York in which it describes that corruption and bribery in Mexico are necessary to protect Los Chapitos, a faction made up of the sons of Imprisoned drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Promising to pursue government corruption that helps crime, Milgram cited on Thursday the drug trafficking indictment against former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, from 2022 and another from 2020 against the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, both housed in the Court of Southern District of New York.
“We follow the evidence wherever it leads us. We have already carried out the investigation, the arrest and the extradition of the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández. And there we follow the evidence. We have also accused Maduro,” Milgram said of two cases of drug trafficking
“So, the DEA does not back down when it comes to doing this type of work. And we will continue to follow the evidence and the facts wherever it leads us,” added the head of the anti-drug agency.
Since his inauguration in January 2021, President Joe Biden’s Administration has not made public any criminal charges against high-ranking Mexican government officials, but the DEA has previously helped gather evidence for the arrest of former high-profile officials.
In 2019, the US arrested former Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna, who was eventually found guilty of drug trafficking this year; In 2020, the US arrested the former Secretary of National Defense between 2012 and 2018, Salvador Cienfuegos, who was also later dropped on charges of drug trafficking.
