US authorities have investigated allegations that associates of Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador have ties to ruthless drug cartels south of the border, according to reports.
Informants have told U.S. authorities that some of López Obrador’s aides, allies and even family members met with heads of several notorious Mexican crime organizations and made millions of dollars in the process. He said he collected them. The New York Times reported on Thursday.
No formal criminal investigation into President Biden’s Mexican side has been launched, and it is unclear whether U.S. authorities have been able to independently confirm the informants’ allegations.
A Justice Department spokesperson told the Post that there was “no investigation underway against President López Obrador” and that the Justice Department “has a responsibility to review all allegations.”
White House National Security Council Press Secretary John Kirby echoed the Justice Department’s opinion, saying that “there is no investigation underway against President López Obrador,” and that federal law enforcement agencies “have no responsibility to consider any allegations.” “There is,” he also pointed out.
Mexico’s president has strongly denied any ties to drug cartels.
“It’s all completely false,” López Obrador told a news conference, according to the Associated Press.
“The U.S. government will have to address this issue,” he added, warning that “time will tell” whether the investigation had undermined “the Mexican government’s confidence in the United States.”
According to the New York Times, the informants said some of López Obrador’s confidants were Mexican drug lord Ismael Zambada García, a member of the Sinaloa cartel, before the president’s 2018 election victory. He told U.S. authorities that he had met with him.
Sources also said the founder of the Zetas cartel, an organization known for beheading, hanging and torturing opponents, paid two of López Obrador’s allies $4 million to buy his release. He claimed to have paid.
Another tipster told investigators that drug cartels may have video footage of the sons of Mexico’s president raising drug money.
The newspaper said the US government did not pursue the allegations because there was limited interest in investigating the head of state of one of the US’s main allies.
Mexico is also the United States’ largest trading partner and the most important country in efforts to stem the flow of illegal drugs and migrants across the southern border.
