Although the United States Drug Enforcement Administration provided training, the police unit was disbanded over a year ago. The decision was not made public at that time.
Lopez Obrador stated that there is still cooperation with US authorities, but that a group that was supposedly high in strategic level was infiltrated by organized crime and its leaders were being investigated.
The Reuters news agency first reported the closure of the unit in 1997. It was responsible for cases such as the capture and imprisonment of the notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Mexico announced in December 2020 that it would restrict foreign agencies such as the DEA’s activities following a dispute about the Los Angeles arrest of a former defense Minister for drug trafficking.
Lopez Obrador expressed frustration that he hadn’t been informed about the investigation into retired general Salvador Cienfuegos. He was then sent back to Mexico where he was exonerated.
The United States and Mexico reached an agreement in October to restructure their fight against drug trafficking. This will address the root causes of the problem and increase efforts to stop cross-border arms smuggling.
Tweeted after the initial Reuters report on the closing of the counter-narcotics units. Texas Rep. Michael McCaul was the top Republican on House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Both countries benefit from the fight against the narcotics trade.
Since 2006, when the government deployed the army in combating drug cartels, over 340,000 people across the country have been killed .
The bloody turf wars between Sinaloa and Jalisco drug cartels have been a regular feature in Mexico’s northern-central state, Zacatecas. The Department of Justice considers Jalisco to be “one of five most dangerous transnational criminal organisations in the world.”
Lopez Obrador claimed that popular TV shows glorified the brutal drug trade last month. He also criticized TV shows on platforms like Netflix for presenting a rose-colored view of the lives of drug traffickers.
He said that the shows featured “gangs of drugs traffickers, with actors and men, beautiful women property, and the latest cars, jewelry. Designer clothes, power.”
They ignore the “devastation of young people.” We are talking about thousands upon thousands of deaths. It’s a serious problem in the United States,” he said, referring specifically to drug overdose victims.
He asked the U.S. not to send helicopter gunships or other weapons to fight drug traffickers, but to invest in economic development.
