By Jorge Antonio Rocha
MEXICO CITY (AA) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denied receiving funding from organized crime for his 2006 presidential campaign and accused the US of being behind the allegations.
Three reports accusing the president of receiving $2 million from the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful drug syndicates, during his presidential campaign surfaced Tuesday.
Lopez Obrador called the investigations slanderous at a news conference Wednesday and blasted the US State Department for manufacturing the reports for political purposes.
"It is slander. They are, of course, very upset, and unfortunately, the press, as we have seen not only in Mexico but also in the world, is very subordinated to power. In the case of the US, the State Department and the agencies have a lot of influence in the management of the media," he said.
DW, ProPublica and InsightCrime uncovered a supposed investigation on Tuesday, led by the US Department of State and the Drug Enforcement Agency into alleged funding of Mexican presidential candidates in the early 2000s. Through "Operation Polanco," named after a popular neighborhood in Mexico City, US agencies documented the alleged donations to Lopez Obrador's campaign from the cartel.
The reports said those close to Lopez Obrador received millions of dollars for the 2006 campaign in exchange for protection and the right to participate in appointing the Attorney General of Mexico if Lopez Obrador won the election.
According to the different reports, Obrador's campaign received between $2 million and $4 million.
The reports are authored by journalists Tim Golden, Steven Dudley and Mexico's Annabel Hernandez -- known for uncovering links between the Mexican elite and drug cartels, such as former security chief Genaro Garcia Luna and his ties with the Sinaloa.
Hernandez said the US Attorney General's Office has confidential reports and audio recordings of witnesses from the Sinaloa Cartel and Lopez Obrador's closest circle. The Mexican journalist said the findings spawn from a long-term investigation since 2020.
But Golden's ProPublica report said the investigation has no evidence regarding the current Mexican leader in illicit funding and that "the investigation did not establish whether Lopez Obrador sanctioned or even knew of the traffickers' reported donations."
Lopez Obrador lost the 2006 race to Felipe Calderon. Hernandez reported that while the Sinaloa Cartel donated to Lopez Obrador, its operators also funded Calderon's campaign. Moreover, Calderon's presidency was surrounded by controversy after his top security chief, Genaro Garcia Luna, was found guilty of drug trafficking charges and ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Lopez Obrador pinned the reports to the US election campaigns, citing political interests behind the reports.
"I denounce the US government for allowing these immoral practices, which are contrary to the political ethics that should prevail in all governments of the world," he added.