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U.S. Arrests Mexico's Ex-Defense Chief, Accused Of Helping Drug Cartel

Former Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, right, with former U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the Pentagon in 2017. Cienfuegos was arrested on a DEA warrant at Los Angeles International Airport Thursday.
Former Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, right, with former U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the Pentagon in 2017. Cienfuegos was arrested on a DEA warrant at Los Angeles International Airport Thursday.

Retired Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, who served as Mexico's secretary of national defense during an extended, intensely violent struggle between Mexico's army and the nation's drug cartels, was arrested Thursday night at Los Angeles International Airport on a warrant from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, a DEA spokesperson said.

Mexico's foreign secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, confirmed the arrest via Twitter, writing that U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau informed him of Cienfuegos' detention. Ebrard wrote that Mexico's consul general in Los Angeles would shortly inform him of the charges facing Cienfuegos, and that the retired general would receive normal consular services.

DEA Los Angeles Division spokesperson Nicole Nishida confirmed the arrest to Reuters but would not provide details of the warrant or the circumstances of Cienfuegos' arrest.

Cienfuegos, 72, served as defense secretary from 2012 to 2018 under former President Enrique Peña Nieto. Felipe Calderón, Peña Nieto's predecessor, used the army — one of the country's few institutions which enjoys widespread public support — in a bloody campaign against Mexico's drug cartels.

Judging by Ebrard's tweet, the U.S. arrest of Cienfuegos did not appear to be coordinated with Mexican authorities. Cienfuegos' arrest appears to be the first of a top-ranking Mexican military officer in the ongoing fight against drug cartels.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Katkov
Carrie Kahn is NPR's International Correspondent based in Mexico City, Mexico. She covers Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. Kahn's reports can be heard on NPR's award-winning news programs including All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Weekend Edition, and on NPR.org.
Alex Leff is a digital editor on NPR's International Desk, helping oversee coverage from journalists around the world for its growing Internet audience. He was previously a senior editor at GlobalPost and PRI, where he wrote stories and edited the work of international correspondents.