Mexico President Denies Allegations That Associates Took Drug Money During Campaign Associated Press
go to original February 23, 2024

Mexico's president denies claims his 2006 campaign received cartel money (NBC News)

Update: Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Denounces US Investigation as Threat to Sovereignty (Vallarta Daily News)

Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador denied allegations contained in a U.S. media report published Thursday about a U.S. inquiry into accusations that people close to him took money from drug traffickers shortly before his 2018 election and again after he was president.

The New York Times story cited unidentified U.S. officials familiar with the now shelved inquiry and noted that a formal investigation was not opened, nor was it known how much of the informants’ allegations were independently confirmed. It is the second time in recent weeks that the foreign press has published stories signaling that the U.S. government has looked into alleged contacts between López Obrador allies and drug cartels.

“It’s all completely false,” López Obrador said during his morning press briefing, criticizing the Times and reading aloud the reporter's phone number in a move that triggered an investigation by a Mexican government watchdog agency.

“The U.S. government is going to have to address this,” he said. Later Thursday U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, “There is no investigation into President López Obrador.”

In late January, ProPublica, Deutsche Welle and InSight Crime published stories describing an earlier U.S. investigation into whether López Obrador campaign aides took money from drug traffickers in exchange for facilitating their operations during an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2006.

In that instance, López Obrador placed blame squarely at the feet of the U.S. government and wondered aloud why he should continue discussing issues like immigration with a government that was trying to damage him.

López Obrador is in the final months of his presidency, but his protégé Claudia Sheinbaum is leading polls to replace him in the June 2 election.

Read the rest at Associated Press

Related: Mexican President’s Eldest Son Denounces Publication of His Phone Number, Says Threats Received (Associated Press)

Related: Biden Officials Play Down Report of US Investigation Into Mexican President (The Guardian)

Related: Mexican President Defends Disclosing a Reporter’s Phone Number, Saying the Law Doesn’t Apply to Him (Associated Press)

Related: Mexico Will Likely Elect a Woman as Its Next President, but Money to Govern Is Already Being Spent (Associated Press)

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