2024-01-30 23:36:33
An investigation carried out by the United States Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) revealed that the Sinaloa Cartel financed the election campaign of Mexican President Andrés López Obrador.
Carried out between 2010 and 2011, the investigation found that the largest Mexican criminal faction invested between US$2 million and US$4 million (between R$9.9 million and R$19.8 million) in López Obrador’s campaign, when he was candidate for President in 2006.
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Audio recordings obtained during the investigation show that members of the Sinaloa Cartel participated directly in the delivery of the money and confirmed the illicit financing.
Sinaloa Cartel and President of Mexico
According to the US government, the money was delivered by Arturo Beltrán Leyva to members of López Obrador’s campaign team on behalf of the criminal faction.
In return, the group asked for protection and the right to participate in the appointment of the Attorney General of the Republic if López Obrador won the elections.
At the time, Leyva made a fortune from drug trafficking, receiving up to US$400 million (almost R$2 billion) per month. He was part of the group’s leadership.
In exchange for the money, the Sinaloa Cartel asked for protection and the right to participate in the appointment of the Attorney General of the Republic in the event of López Obrador’s victory | Photo: Reproduction/Wikimedia Commons/EneasMx
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On the part of the Sinaloa Cartel, the main person responsible for conducting the negotiations was drug trafficker Edgar Valdez Villarreal, one of Leyva’s main partners.
On the coalition side of López Obrador’s campaign, those responsible for receiving the financing were two people very close to the president – Nicolás Mollinedo, then the president’s inseparable driver, and politician Mauricio Soto Caballero.
López Obrador is an active member and collaborator of the São Paulo Forum. The Mexican president is also a supporter of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) and the Venezuelan dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.
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