American regulation enforcement officers spent years wanting into allegations that allies of Mexico’s President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, met with and took thousands and thousands of {dollars} from drug cartels after he took workplace, in line with US information and three individuals acquainted with the matter. The inquiry uncovered info 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 in the end shelved the inquiry. They concluded that the US govt had little urge for food to pursue allegations towards the chief of one of many US’ high allies, stated the sources.Lopez Obrador known as the allegations “fully false”, responding to questions from NYT on Thursday. He stated the information of the inquiry wouldn’t “in any approach” have an effect on Mexico’s relationship with the US, however stated 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 data collected by US officers got here from informants whose accounts might be troublesome to corroborate. For instance, information present that the investigators have been advised by an informant that one in all Lopez Obrador’s closest confidants met with Ismael Zambada Garcia, a high chief of the Sinaloa drug cartel, earlier than his victory within the 2018 election. A unique supply advised 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 info from a 3rd supply suggesting that drug cartels have been in possession of movies of the president’s sons selecting up drug cash, information 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 stated. Not less than a kind of funds, they stated, 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.
