Puerto Vallarta (PVDN) – According to former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Mike Vigil, the security relations between the US and Mexico are “very damaged” due to recent statements by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The President accused the DEA of abusive and arrogant interference in their operation to infiltrate the Sinaloa Cartel and US intelligence agencies’ espionage on the Gulf Cartel.
Vigil, who spent over 30 years as a DEA agent, including 13 in Mexico, said that he has never seen security relations so damaged. He added that he does not believe they will improve during this six-year term and could get worse.
On April 14, the US Department of Justice announced new measures against 28 members of the Sinaloa Cartel faction led by the sons of Joaquín El Chapo Guzman, known as Los Chapitos. Agent Anne Milgram praised the DEA’s exceptional work in the case, stating that they had proactively infiltrated the Sinaloa Cartel and the Chapitos network, gaining unprecedented access to the highest levels of the organization.
A day later, The Washington Post reported that US intelligence agencies had spied on members of the Gulf Cartel after gunmen kidnapped four US citizens, killing two of them, in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, in March. The Pentagon leaked documents to the newspaper, which also revealed a dispute between Sedena and Semar, with Admiral José Rafael Ojeda Durán, head of Semar, frustrated at the possibility that the Mexican Army would take control and supervision of the airspace.
Vigil clarified that the DEA does not have personnel inside the organizations, but rather informants who are paid to give details about the movements of drug trafficking leaders. He said that the information obtained is shared with Mexican security forces, who do not have the budget to pay informants.
Vigil pointed out that the DEA has been working in Mexico for decades, and many successful operations have been achieved with information from the DEA, such as the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, alias El Ratón, on January 5. He added that the DEA is collaborating with the Mexican government, but he does not understand the statements made by President López Obrador against the DEA, where he accused them of fabricating accusations against General Salvador Cienfuegos, former head of the Secretary of National Defense, or that espionage is carried out in Mexico.
During his morning conference on January 15, 2021, President López Obrador reported that he had requested evidence from the US government for the accusation of the former head of Sedena during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto. He said that the evidence presented by the US government, in this case by the DEA, had no probative value to prosecute, to start a trial against General Cienfuegos.
Vigil emphasized that the DEA is focused solely on combating illicit drugs and is not there to spy on Mexican institutions. He said that the issue has become political after Republican legislators mentioned a possible invasion of Mexico to combat drug cartels, calling it “pure political theater” that benefits only the cartels and leads to more corruption, violence, and drugs to the US.
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