Tijuana, Mexico
Did U.S. help cartel? Mexico’s top newspaper, El Universal, reported this week that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had an arrangement with Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel that let the drug-trafficking group operate relatively freely in exchange for information about other cartels. El Universal cites U.S. court documents that show the DEA worked closely with informants in the Sinaloa Cartel from 2006 to 2012, a time when drug violence soared and the gang rose in prominence. The Mexican government was allegedly never informed of the DEA’s meetings with Sinaloa members. The most serious allegation—that the U.S. pledged not to interfere with Sinaloa operations—rests only on the word of one arrested Sinaloa member, Vicente Zambada Niebla. The DEA and the Justice Department have declined to comment.
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