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President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and former President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa accused each other of supporting drug trafficking organizations.
During his daily news conference, President López Obrador said that since former Security Minister Genaro García Luna allegedly cooperated with drug cartels during Calderón’s administration, it could be said that there was a narco-state in Mexico.
Genaro García Luna
is currently jailed in a U.S. prison. Prosecutors accuse him of taking millions in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel.
López Obrador said criminals ruled the country and that security forces were at the service of criminal organizations. He added that cooperation between criminals and authorities must be eradicated.
In response, Felipe Calderón said his administration was not a narco-state: “I’m not the president who shook hands with El Chapo’s mother, I didn’t release a criminal under any circumstances, or his children or nephews.”
Calderón Hinojosa insisted his administration always fought against drug cartels and that is was not a narco-state.
Calderón demanded López Obrador stops the political persecution against him and suggested the President should present any evidence he has against him.
Felipe Calderón argued that his administration extradited at least 25 criminals to the United States and that in contrast, the country is now controlled by drug cartels.
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During an interview, the former president said he lives in Mexico City and that if authorities want to take legal action against him, he is willing to cooperate; however, he said he doesn’t agree with the idea of launching a referendum so people decide if he faces justice or not.
Moreover, Calderón criticized President López Obrador for attempting to administrate justice through a referendum and not through a legal process; nevertheless, he said he wasn’t afraid, but admitted he is upset.
According to the former Mexican president, López Obrador is making shocking claims about him because of the upcoming 2021 elections. Calderón also said the president made the shocking claims to divert attention from serious problems such as the COVID-19 death toll in Mexico.
Meanwhile, Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would shake hands with El Chapo ’s mother again and that he released Ovidio Guzmán to see hundreds of lives.
The president also urged Felipe Calderón to reveal everything he knows about Genaro García Luna. According to López Obrador, the former president shouldn’t be worried if he didn’t know about García Luna’s relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel.
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In January, the Mexican President said Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was once as powerful as Mexico’s president.
“There was a time when Guzmán Loera was as powerful or had the same influence the president had at that time,” said López Obrador. “That made it hard to punish those who had committed crimes. That is now history.”
Genaro García Luna, a former Security Minister, was accused of taking millions in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel and taken into custody in late 2019.
Guzmán was sentenced last year to life in prison without parole and moved to a high-security facility in Colorado after being convicted in a U.S. court of smuggling tons of drugs to the United States over a colorful, decades-long career.
He had become almost legendary for escaping from Mexican high-security jails twice and avoiding massive manhunts while cultivating a Robin Hood image among the poor in Sinaloa.
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