Mexico passes law hampering DEA work

Published on : 19/12/2020 – 21:41

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Mexico has quietly passed a law that could have major repercussions on the international fight against drug trafficking. Under the guise of a necessary review of the prerogatives of foreign law enforcement agents in Mexico, the law drastically hinders their work, denounce the experts in unison.

With our correspondent in Mexico, Alix Hardy

The text particularly affects the work of the DEA, the American anti-drug agency which has 50 agents in Mexico. It provides that foreign agents will have to transmit the information gathered to a panel of Mexican authorities. Any Mexican official will have to write a report after each contact with a foreign agent. Untenable, warns ex-DEA agent Mike Vigil: ” It will not happen. In the past we have passed on information that has been filtered to the cartels. And that endangers our informants and our investigations. On the other hand I can guarantee that Mexican officials will stop taking DEA calls because they don’t want to file a report every time. All this will limit the exchange of information. »

Put pressure on the future Biden administration

Experts are unanimous: the big loser from a decline in cooperation is Mexico, which receives more information from the Americans than it provides. For security expert Vanda Felbab-Brown, the law passed during the American electoral transition is above all political. ” Lopez Obrador is trying to create leverage to negotiate with the Biden administration. He found his relationship with Trump very comfortable after all : As long as Mexico agreed to have a deterrent policy towards migrants, the United States chose to ignore and not interfere on a whole host of other Mexican matters. »

The law was passed in response to the arrest in the United States of a former Mexican defense minister for drug trafficking. Mexico, wounded in its sovereignty by not having been made aware of either the arrest or the investigation, has pushed for the US lawsuits against the general to be dropped and for him to be returned to Mexico. A unpublished concession he obtained. This law, which the president has yet to promulgate, shows that Mexico has decided to insist on the extent of its disagreement with these methods.

Unlike Donald Trump, Joe Biden could be a lot more observant, especially on the non-existent environmental policy in Mexico and the fight against corruption that is slipping.

►Also read: Mexico: the ex-governor of Jalisco assassinated in the toilets of a restaurant

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