In surprise move, US drops drugs case against Mexico’s ex-defence minister
- US arrested Salvador Cienfuegos at Los Angeles airport to surprise and irritation of Mexican officials
- Retired general was alleged to have colluded with a Mexican cartel to enable narcotics to enter US
The surprise decision to dismiss the charges in the politically explosive case was announced in a joint statement on Tuesday from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Mexico’s attorney general’s office.
“The United States has determined that sensitive and important foreign policy considerations outweigh the government’s interest in pursuing the prosecution of the defendant,” prosecutors from the US Eastern District of New York said in a court document unsealed on Tuesday.
US authorities said the 72-year-old ex-general, accused of using his power to protect a faction of the Beltran-Leyva drugs cartel in Mexico while ordering operations against its rivals, had agreed to voluntarily return to Mexico if the US case against him was thrown out.
Cienfuegos, who served as head of the military and was former President Enrique Pena Nieto’s top defence official from 2012 to 2018, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to the charges following his October arrest in the Los Angeles airport.