He former National Security Commissioner, Renato Sales Heredia, described as a violation of national sovereignty and a lack of respect for Mexicans the arrest of General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Secretary of National Defense during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto, by authorities of United States.
In an interview with EL UNIVERSAL, Sales Heredia considered that it would be necessary to respect the Mexicans and allow it to be here where the arrest warrant for extradition purposes against the former head of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), accused of alleged links with the criminal group of the murdered capo Juan Francisco Patron Sánchez, El H2.
From Campeche, the former official pointed out that there was none and that the anti-drug agency DEA never suggested inquiring Cienfuegos Zepeda, of whom, he said, there was never the slightest suspicion that he was involved with a criminal group.
“There was never an investigation, nor was it suggested by the United States, in the least, there was never the slightest suspicion that the General Secretary could be involved, on the contrary, if there was a committed person working permanently in the attention of the issues , with the differences that we could have in the civil or military handling of the issue, was the secretary Hundred fires”, He indicated.
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Sales Heredia, former owner of the missing National Security Commission (CNS) from August 2015 to November 30, 2018, specified that the accusations against Cienfuegos Zepeda seem implausible and that his arrest is related rather to a conflict between US agencies, the DEA among others, a few days before the elections. presidential elections in the United States.
On insecurity in the country, the former coordinator National Anti-kidnapping noted that despite the fact that the number of public security elements tripled with the creation of the National Guard, malicious homicides stalled at high levels.
He insisted that the murders in the country are linked to the dispute of criminal organizations and the demand for drugs in the United States.
Sales Heredia reiterated that the capacities of the municipal, state and national police must be strengthened, but not insist on militarization.
“In this administration, all the eggs were unfortunately put in the military’s basket,” said the former official.
What is your opinion on the arrest of General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda?
—It seems to me a brutal interference by the United States, an absolute lack of respect for national sovereignty.
In the worst of the hypotheses, assuming without granting that some indication of those that are commented and are absurd, that if he had thousands of communications with a medium-sized drug dealer on his cell phone, please.
Assuming that this were the case, we would have to respect the Mexicans and allow it to be here where the arrest warrant for extradition purposes was requested and handle it that way.
Did the United States ever ask to investigate the former Secretary of National Defense?
– There was never an investigation, but not even suggested by the United States, in the least, there was never the slightest suspicion, the slightest suspicion that the General Secretary could be involved, on the contrary, if there was a committed person permanently working in the attention to the issues, with the differences that we could have in civil or military management, was the secretary [Salvador] Hundred fires.
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Within the security cabinet of the past administration, did General Salvador Cienfuegos express any disagreement about cooperation with the United States on security matters?
“It made no difference that I recall.”
Is it a revenge of the DEA against the Army?
—It seems to me that it has to do with a rematch between the American agencies, a few days before the election in the United States. [3 de noviembre].
The DEA assures that the general provided protection to El H2 and that he has evidence of thousands of intercepted text messages, are the accusations credible?
—I think the accusations against the former Secretary of National Defense, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, are implausible. It seems to me that it is more a conflict between the agencies of the United States, I mean the DEA with other agencies, more to the fact that a person like the former secretary is really involved.
What do you think of the security strategy that the federal government has followed?
—We have been in the administration of [el presidente] Andrés Manuel López Obrador and we see that the number of elements in relation to the Federal Police has tripled, compared to the now National Guard.
We had 40,000 Federal Police officers and now we have more than 100,000 National Guard elements; However, we do not see that this proportion translates into a substantial decrease in what it does, for example, with intentional homicides, which is the index that we have measured for several years.
What caused the murder wave in the country?
—We have more homicides in 2020 than in 2019, more in 2019 than in 2018, because this responds to multiple factors that have to do with what the government does or does not do, and with what criminal groups do or do not do and with the demand for drugs by the United States and the supply of firearms from the American Union, which, as we see, have a very important influence on what happens in our country.
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The federal government assures that there is a turning point, what do you think?
—We must be clear that this presumed stabilization would be like saying that we are well because we stabilize the patient at 40 degrees of temperature, but the patient is bad, the patient is still very bad.
The terrible thing about the matter is that it was said that the Federal police and, then, the National Guard is replaced, the number of elements is tripled and things are not the same but have grown because we clearly see the figures.
The demand for opiates and opioids has resulted in an increase in homicides on the northern border: Tijuana, San Luis Río Colorado, Tecate and in the ports of the Pacific, this is Manzanillo, [Colima] and Lázaro Cárdenas, [Michoacán], with regard to the states.
A civilian or military command in the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC)?
—I believe that the strategy of this administration and those to come, because this is not a six-year issue, it is an issue that we have been suffering from, it would have to do with the strengthening of the judiciary, with the strengthening of capacities from the municipal police to the the national ones, but do not insist on militarization.
I always summarize the issue of the increase in militarization with a phrase: ‘The police do not want to be military and the military do not want to be police either’, then then, the National Guard is born mortally wounded because these national guards who come from army and of the MarinaWell, they don’t want to be policemen, and the police don’t want to be the military.
The military paradigm is to destroy the enemy, to fight it. The police paradigm is to protect the citizen and capture an offender in accordance with due process, present him to the authorities and respect human rights in that course.
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