Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has claimed that Mexico’s corruption and scandal-plagued President Enrique Peña Nieto is America’s friend. The same president that has been accused by Mexican media of taking cartel money for his campaign while the country continues to see rising levels of violence, criminal impunity, and smuggling.
Clinton made those statements on Thursday when during a speech where she tried to attack Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“He praises dictators like Vladimir Putin and picks fights with our friends – including the British prime minister, the mayor of London, the German chancellor, the president of Mexico and the Pope,” Clinton said during her speech.
Despite her efforts to attack Trump, Clinton failed to mention a few key facts about Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto that reveal he may not be a good friend to have. Earlier this year, Breitbart Texas reported on how an in-depth investigation by Aristegui Noticias in Mexico revealed that the Juarez Cartel had used shell companies to funnel money and help finance his presidential bid. The cartel moneys were used to purchase a series of cash cards that were handed out to individuals who pledged their vote to Peña Nieto’s party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The independent Mexican journalists also revealed that members of the Juarez Cartel had used various government programs to launder money and profit from their network of contacts. In addition to the cartel ties in his campaign, Peña Nieto has also been accused of taking bribes from wealthy businessmen in exchange for lucrative contracts.
While Mexico is considered a valuable trade partner for the United States with millions of dollars in merchandise crossing each day, a closer look at the Mexican government under Peña Nieto revealed that they in fact have not been very friendly when it comes to issues of border security. In border states, drug cartels have been able to work with impunity setting up their criminal empires that continually sent ton quantities of narcotics into every major U.S. city. As Breitbart Texas revealed, a study by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration revealed that drug cartels have managed to have a presence and influence throughout the nation.
Mexico has seen a large increase in cartel violence and activity during Peña Nieto’s tenure leading to severe consequences for the United States in the border state of Tamaulipas. In the border city of Reynosa, the Gulf Cartel has been able to overwhelm the detention capabilities of the Department of Homeland Security thus creating a humanitarian crisis as thousands and thousands of Central American illegal immigrants are brought over the Rio Grande. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the Gulf Cartel was able to make $38 million in a few months from human smuggling alone. The Gulf Cartel has also been able to successfully operate in the U.S. and kidnap American citizens that are then taken into Mexico for ransom or worse. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the most recent case of a U.S. citizen being taken at gunpoint into Mexico took place less than three weeks ago.
In 2014, the FBI had confirmed 199 cases of Americans having been kidnapped while in Mexico, Breitbart Texas reported at the time.
In the border state of Coahuila, Breitbart Texas carried out a three-month investigation that revealed the Los Zetas drug cartel had systematically kidnapped, tortured, murdered and incinerated hundreds of innocent victims from rural communities. Some of those victims were U.S. citizens. While Los Zetas cartel members were murdering innocent victims and terrorizing the state, Coahuila’s Governor Humberto Moreira turned a blind eye and was arrested in Spain for having been a surrogate for the fearsome drug cartel. He has since been released. Federal authorities in the U.S. are also investigating him. Moreira was a key figure in Peña Nieto’s election when he served as the national president for the PRI.
Despite the out of control violence that continues to reign in Mexico, government officials, under Peña Nieto’s command, continue to praise their efforts in keeping crime down going as far as claiming that violence is at record lows.
The underlying reason for the Mexican President’s inability to curb cartel violence falls on the widespread corruption that continues to exists at all levels of that country’s government.
Breitbart Texas has reported on two former Tamaulipas governors who are current fugitives of the U.S. Department of Justice on money laundering charges. Former Governors Tomas Yarrington and Eugenio Hernandez are both members of Peña Nieto’s PRI who have been accused in U.S. federal courts of taking cartel bribes. Yarrington has also been charged with drug conspiracy for his alleged role in giving the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas and the Beltran Leyva cartels access to key shipping ports. The two Tamaulipas governor’s were not in office during Peña Nieto’s term, but they along with Moreira and several other Mexican politicians help illustrate the close ties between drug cartels and that country’ political elite that Clinton claims as friends.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.