Former Mexican President Pena Nieto accused of accepting a $100 million bribe from "El Chapo"

Former Mexican President Pena Neito. New York Times. 

Former Mexican President Pena Nieto has been accused of accepting an $100 million bribe from Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera. New York Times. The testimony came from Alex Cifuentes Villa, a Colombian drug lord who worked closely with El Chapo. According to Cifuentes Nieto had originally asked for $250 million, in exchange for calling off the manhunt for Guzman. Guzman negotiated the amount down to $100 million. The president before Nieto, Felipe Calderón, has also been accused of taking bribes from a rival cartel. Cifuentes also testified that Guzmen had bribed the Mexican military to target other cartels and that Mexican police were involved in drug trafficking.

My Comment:

I admit to not following the trial of El Chapo closely. But I couldn't ignore this headline. If the testimony is true than the Mexican government is beyond corrupt and is essentially owned by the Sinaloa Cartel.  Apparently it only costs $100 million to own the Mexican government. 

That isn't too surprising as Mexico is famously corrupt. It is not shocking to find out that the Mexican government is corrupt from top to bottom. And it is also no surprise to find out that Mexico's two last presidents have been accused of taking bribes. 

I supposes I should point out that Cifuentes' testimony might not be true. Both Neito and Calderon have denied the accusations and neither have been convicted of any crime. Right now we only have the testimony of a drug lord that they are guilty, but there is a possibility that Guzman will confirm those accusations. I tend to believe it is true but it would be irresponsible to not point out that the accusation might not be true. 

It does make me wonder if Mexico's new president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, aka Almo, will do better than the last two presidents. Almo seems to be a fairly standard leftist/nationalist who at least talks the talk when it comes to serving the people. On the other hand he has asked for a truce between the government and the cartels so it's possible he's just as corrupt. My hope is that he will be less vulnerable to corruption than the rest of Mexico. 

I also should point out that Nieto seemed incredibly greedy. He asked for $250 million which is just obscene. It's pretty funny that El Chapo was able to cut that down to $100 million. It's not clear that El Chapo got his monies worth. Pena Nieto was president when El Chapo was arrested and transferred to the United States where he will likely be convicted. If the trial testimony is correct, it's possible that Nieto was taking bribes from other Cartel leaders. 

I am worried that El Chapo's bribes extended beyond the Mexican border. And, of course, the Sinaloa Cartel is not the only game in town. I am betting that there are American politicians, all the way up to the highest levels of our country, that are on the Cartel's payrolls. Hopefully, some of that will come out during this trial of El Chapo. 

I have said for a long time that the Mexican Drug War has largely been ignored by all sides of the political debate. I always found it very odd that neither side on the debate over the wall ever seems to mention the massive amount of violence that is happening over the border. It would seemingly help both sides of the debate but it is almost never mentioned.