Former Mexican Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos has been arrested in the United States. He was stopped at the Los Angeles airport when he entered the US, Secretary of State Marcelo Ebrard reported on Twitter local time on Thursday evening. He was informed of the arrest by the US Ambassador to Mexico.
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Ebrard does not write why the ex-minister was arrested. According to the Mexican newspaper The universal 72-year-old Cienfuegos was arrested at the request of the US anti-drug authorities DEA and that news was also confirmed by a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Other media reports that the minister is suspected of drug trafficking. The family members with whom the minister traveled were not arrested.
Cienfuegos was Minister of Defense from 2012 to 2018, under the previous President Enrique Peña Nieto. Last year, the former Mexican Minister of Security Genaro García Luna (2006-2012) was also arrested in the Texan city of Dallas. He was charged with accepting millions in bribes from former drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. In the US, he was charged with conspiracy to trade cocaine and make false statements. The ex-minister has consistently denied the accusations.
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