A federal judge on Tuesday denied bail to General Salvador Cienfuegos, head of the Secretariat of National Defense of Mexico during Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration. This, during the second hearing after his arrest in Los Angeles, last week.
The defense of the former public official offered $ 750,000 as bail for Cienfuegos to follow the process in freedom in order to avoid a COVID-19 contagion; however, a federal judge at the Los Angeles Court determined that he remained in custody due to the risk of flight.
Cienfuegos is likely to be transferred to New York City so that his judicial process can continue in the Brooklyn Court.
The former high command is accused of using the military might of his country to protect a violent cartel and hunt down his opponents, according to the indictment of federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.
HERE YOU CAN SEE THE DOCUMENT.
Cienfuegos was arrested last Thursday at the Los Angeles International Airport after arriving from Mexico with his family.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn reported that thousands of messages intercepted from the general’s BlackBerry reveal that he used his power to ensure that the Mexican military did not challenge the violent H-2 cartel.
Cienfuegos, under the direct mandate of President Nieto, also carried out “military operations against rival organizations (of the H-2 cartel),” according to federal prosecutors.
“The defendant prioritized his personal greed over his sworn duties as a public servant, and ensured the continued success and safety of one of Mexico’s most violent drug trafficking organizations,” Assistant United States Attorney Michael Robotti wrote in the documents Friday. judicial. “It does not respect public authority or the rule of law.”
The H-2 cartel operates from Nayarit and Sinaloa on the west coast of Mexico to northwest of Mexico City.
According to the police investigation, the criminal group has distribution lines for cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in several states of the United States.
Cienfuegos was in direct conversation with a high-ranking leader within the H-2 cartel and mentioned his past help to another cartel, according to intercepted messages.
There are also messages between Cienfuegos and other corrupt public officials.
Federal prosecutors asked a Brooklyn judge to order that Cienfuegos be jailed without bail pending his trial, arguing the risk of flight. He could face life in prison if convicted.
“It is likely that the defendant seeks to take advantage of his connections with high-level members of the H-2 cartel in Mexico, as well as high-level corrupt former government officials, to help him flee from US law enforcement and shelter him in Mexico.” wrote prosecutor Robotti.
The top general, known as “The Godfather,” faces four charges related to the distribution of narcotics and money laundering, according to the indictment revealed in Brooklyn last Friday.
The indictment, filed under seal in August 2019, accuses Cienfuegos of participating in a conspiracy to manufacture cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana and distribute it in the United States. He is also accused of laundering the money he earned from the drug business.
Cienfuegos is the latest in a line of corrupt Mexican officials and cartel leaders prosecuted by federal authorities in Brooklyn.
Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former Secretary of Public Security, was accused earlier this year of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, in exchange for allowing drug traffickers to operate with impunity, according to the feds.
Guzmán himself was charged with drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy in a highly publicized trial in Brooklyn last year, and was sentenced to life in prison.
Likewise, Iván Reyes Arzate, a former commander of the Mexican federal police, was charged in January with providing DEA protection and confidential information to the cartel in 2016, according to the feds.
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