U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents and U.S Attorneys held secret meetings with drug trafficking organizations, especially the Sinaloa cartel, on Mexican soil, revealed Mexico-based newspaper El Universal.

The DEA and the U.S. Attorney’s office are both components of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). 

Official and court documents from the U.S and Mexican governments were cited as the source in the Jan. 6 news report. 

Court documents show that the U.S. government knew and authorized those meetings, which resulted in drug seizures, arrests, and an increase in drug cartel violence in Mexico.  

The paper published excerpts from U.S. court documents to support their claims. Breitbart News confirmed the validity of the court papers. 

El Universal alleges that the DEA operations were carried out without the knowledge of the Mexican government. 

The paper reported that it obtained the court and official documents in the course of a year. During that time, it also conducted interviews with “more than a hundred” active and retired officials from both countries. The paper also interviewed inmates, their family, and experts.   

In an effort to obtain information on their rivals, DEA agents and U.S. attorneys met with leaders of Mexican drug trafficking organizations, especially the notoriously violent Sinaloa cartel.

That is the same trafficking organization that received the bulk of the firearms intentionally dispensed to drug cartels in Mexico under ATF’s 2009 “Fast and Furious” operation according to a congressional investigation. ATF is a DOJ component as well. 

In December 2011, CNSNews.com reported that the gun-walking operation was linked to a drug-trafficking immunity deal between the U.S. government and the Sinaloa cartel by a defendant who was awaiting trial in a Chicago federal court at the time. 

That same defendant is mentioned in the U.S. court papers published by the Mexican newspaper showing that DEA held secret meetings with drug cartel members. The same defendant is also the focus of a news report by The Narcosphere alleging that the Sinaloa cartel is protected by the U.S. government.

The defendant’s court pleadings stated:

The United States government considered the arrangements with the Sinaloa Cartel an acceptable price to pay, because the principal objective was the destruction and dismantling of rival cartels by using the assistance of the Sinaloa Cartel without regard for the fact that tons of illicit drugs continued to be smuggled into Chicago and other parts of the United States and consumption continued virtually unabated…

El Universal mentions that the meetings between U.S. officials and drug cartel members in Mexico took place during the Mexican presidencies of Vicente Fox (2000-2006) and Felipe Calderón (2006-2012). 

However, the relationship between the DEA and cartel members documented by El Universal intensified in 2009, according to a chronological list of events published along with the report. That year is mentioned more than any other in the news report.

Furthermore, the paper pointed out that in June 2009, an agreement between DOJ and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gave agents from both agencies the authority to investigate suspected drug traffickers at the southwest border and internationally. 

According to El Universal, DOJ and other U.S. agencies declined to comment on meeting with drug cartels in Mexico. 

The U.S. has been conducting similar operations for years. 

In Colombia, the DEA secretly met with drug traffickers to obtain information on Pablo Escobar. 

The U.S. has been carrying out investigative operations to fight drug cartels in Thailand, Cambodia, and Afghanistan. 

El Universal also pointed out that DEA secret operations in Mexico are in violation of agreements between the two countries and the United Nation’s Agreement on Organized Crime.