(Bloomberg) -- Mexico's president said Monday that the military shouldn't be tarnished by the arrest of the country's former defense minister on drug charges, after critics raised questions about the increasing presence of the army under his administration.
While defending the military, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also said he'll ask the U.S. to share all of the information in the case against the former defense minister, General Salvador Cienfuegos, so that Mexico can investigate who else might be involved.
Cienfuegos, who ran Mexico's drug war between 2012 and 2018, was detained on Thursday in Los Angeles on charges he helped a cartel move thousands of kilos of drugs into the U.S. Lopez Obrador has a delicate line to walk because he built his brand around fighting corruption, but has also dramatically expanded the military's role in Mexican life. Soldiers now do everything from protecting oil facilities to building airports and even government bank branches.
“As lamentable and scandalous as it is, you can't discredit as a whole an institution as important as the Defense Ministry,” Lopez Obrador said at his daily press conference on Monday.
Yet he vowed to go after any accomplices in Mexico. “You can't imagine something like this happening without intermediaries,” he said. “There have to be other people involved.”
The indictment by New York prosecutors alleged that Cienfuegos had helped the H-2 cartel by targeting rival gangs, introducing them to other corrupt politicians, and even helping arrange shipments of their goods. By telling the cartel about U.S. drug probes, Cienfuegos indirectly caused the murder of one cartel member, they alleged. Several news reports and columnists have raised questions about the outsized role of the military after the arrest.
There is currently no Mexican investigation against Cienfuegos, Lopez Obrador said.
READ MORE: He Was Mexico's Defense Chief. The U.S. Says He's a Drug Dealer
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