American regulation enforcement officers spent years wanting into allegations that allies of Mexico’s President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, met with and took tens of millions of {dollars} from drug cartels after he took workplace, in response to US data and three individuals acquainted with the matter. The inquiry uncovered data pointing to potential hyperlinks between cartel operatives and Mexican advisers and officers near the president whereas he ruled the nation.However the US by no means opened a proper investigation into Lopez Obrador, and the officers concerned finally shelved the inquiry. They concluded that the US govt had little urge for food to pursue allegations in opposition to the chief of one of many US’ prime allies, mentioned the sources.Lopez Obrador referred to as the allegations “completely false”, responding to questions from NYT on Thursday. He mentioned the information of the inquiry wouldn’t “in any way” have an effect on Mexico’s relationship with the US, however mentioned he anticipated a response from the US govt. Whereas the current efforts by the US officers recognized doable ties between the cartels and Lopez Obrador’s associates, they didn’t discover any direct hyperlink to the president. US officers declined to remark. A lot of the knowledge collected by US officers got here from informants whose accounts might be troublesome to corroborate. For instance, data present that the investigators have been instructed by an informant that one among Lopez Obrador’s closest confidants met with Ismael Zambada Garcia, a prime chief of the Sinaloa drug cartel, earlier than his victory within the 2018 election. A special supply instructed them that after the president was elected, a founding father of the notoriously violent Zetas cartel paid $4 million to 2 of Lopez Obrador’s allies within the hope of being launched from jail. Investigators obtained data from a 3rd supply suggesting that drug cartels have been in possession of movies of the president’s sons choosing up drug cash, data present. Lopez Obrador denied all of the claims. US regulation enforcement officers additionally tracked funds from individuals they believed to be cartel operatives to intermediaries for Lopez Obrador, two of the sources mentioned. No less than a type of funds, they mentioned, was made across the similar time that Lopez Obrador travelled to Sinaloa in 2020 and met the mom of drug lord El Chapo, who’s now serving a life sentence in a US jail.
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