“The support was total for the H2 Cartel”

While one helped the H2a Cartel to operate with impunity in the state of Nayarit, the other, from the federal government, helped the organization to expand its territory and to carry out operations against organized crime.

They are former Nayarit prosecutor Édgar Veytia and former Secretary of National Defense Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, who, according to accusations by US authorities, were part of the corruption network created by Juan Francisco Patrón Sánchez, El H2, leader of the cartel that bore his nickname.

The organization derived from what was left of the Beltrán Leyva family, which operated mainly in Nayarit and collaborated with Los Mazatlecos, a group controlled by Isidro Meza Flores, better known as El Chapo Isidro.

It was a rival to the Sinaloa Cartel, led by El Chapo Guzmán, and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) and was primarily engaged in cocaine trafficking, although according to the United States government it also produced and trafficked methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin.

According to the United States’ indictment, Salvador Cienfuegos allegedly used his position in the federal government to help the H2 Cartel to expand its territory during Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration.

At the same time, the former Nayarit prosecutor Édgar Veytia helped the cartel operate with impunity, not only with drug trafficking, but also for various crimes.

The relationship between Veytia and Patrón Sánchez culminated on February 10, 2016, with the death of the latter, which occurred during an operation carried out by the Secretary of the Navy in the Lindavista neighborhood, in Tepic, Nayarit.

For the year 2018, the former prosecutor Veytia was captured in the United States and with this the corruption and acts of violence committed during the government of Roberto Sandoval in Nayarit were uncovered.

But another high command who aided the H2 Cartel in the federal government, according to US prosecutors, was the former head of Sedena, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda.

With this, the organization managed to have numerous distribution cells in the United States, which operated in cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Ohio, Minnesota, North Carolina and New York.

According to the evidence obtained by the New York prosecutor, communications from a Blackberry phone were tapped, revealing that the former military commander received payments to support the cartel.

In this way, supposedly Cienfuegos made sure that the military operations were not against the H2 Cartel; he directed operations against the organizations rivaling the Beltrán Leyvas; He helped expand the cartel’s territory to Mazatlán and Sinaloa and even introduced H2 leaders to other Mexican government officials, who received bribes to support the organization.

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