MEXICO CITY, Mexico.- The day after Mexico became angry with US authorities for publishing the 751 pages of the lawsuit against the former Mexican Secretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos, The Mexican prosecutors who exonerated him published their own version, even though there were so many scratched pages that it was almost impossible to know what they had discovered.
The report released Sunday at the Attorney General’s Office in Mexico includes a 226-page full-length section, followed shortly after by another 275-page.
In the few fragments with less edited text, all names and images appeared crossed out.
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Authorities appeared to have trouble controlling the damage to the reputation of the judicial system after prosecutors took just five days to completely acquit retired General Cienfuegos of allegations in the United States, backed by years of investigation. about the military aiding drug traffickers in exchange for bribes.
The president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, he drew credibility Saturday in the U.S. investigation, and his government released U.S. prosecution documentation, sent to Mexico when Cienfuegos was handed over to a neighboring country as a diplomatic concession, to be investigated in his country.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the full publication of the evidence violated a legal aid treaty and questioned whether the United States could continue to share information with Mexico.
This further strained security relations between the two sides, following the government’s decision to restrict the activity of US agents and withdraw their immunity, even after Cienfuegos was returned to his country and not tried. to the United States.
López Obrador pointed out that although many Mexicans see American courts as spotless institutions, those responsible for this investigation worked unprofessionally.
The visible excerpts from the new report published in Mexico seemed to allude to requests to the Army to investigate the credibility of the allegations and collect the revenue declared by Cienfuegos.
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For example, one of the few documents readable was a report from a military communications officer. The officer, whose name appears crossed out, says no Army BlackBerry devices were officially assigned to Cienfuegos or anyone else.
The 751-page document the U.S. authorities shared with Mexico consists largely of intercepted BlackBerry messages in which already-dead traffickers described dealings with a person they often call “The Godfather,” and whom researchers identify as Cienfuegos. .
Lopez Obrador has relied heavily on the Army for a number of projects that go beyond security, and his government appeared to have responded to military outrage over Cienfuegos’ arrest by denouncing that U.S. authorities had not reported properly of the case in advance.
Cienfuegos was arrested in October in Los Angeles, but the U.S. government dropped the charges against him in November, after Mexican authorities threatened to restrict the activity of U.S. agents.
Published U.S. documents include an alleged intercepted conversation between the leader of the H-2 cartel, based on the peaceful state of Nayarit, and a lieutenant who allegedly served as a liaison with the general.
In a text message conversation, Daniel Silva-Gárate told his boss, Juan Francisco Patró Sánchez, that several men with military-style haircuts had taken him to the headquarters of the Department of Defense in Mexico City. for a meeting with “The Godfather.”
Silva-Gárate told his boss that “The Godfather” had told him they would do great things with him.
Patron Sanchez said he wanted to operate smoothly on sea routes to transport the drug from Colombia, and his lieutenant responded that his interlocutor claimed that as long as he was there, the capo would be “free” and that “they will never let him make strong operations “, in reference to raids by the authorities.
“May you sleep peacefully,” Silva-Gárate adds to his head about “El Padrí’s” response.
Other conversations described alleged offers from the Godfather to organize a ship to help transport drugs and to introduce the traffickers to other officials. He also acknowledged having helped other traffickers in the past.