Mexico’s government is trying to prosecute a border state governor. Her crime — working with U.S. agencies to fight drug cartels.
This week, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office held a hearing in which it questioned Chihuahua’s Governor, Maria Eugenia “Maru” Campos. Initially, they summoned her as a witness in an investigation, a common strategy to bring an individual in before charging them. The case has become a scandal in Mexico.
The incident began in April, when two U.S. agents died in a highway crash while returning from a raid by state police forces at one of the largest drug labs ever in Mexico. As Breitbart Texas reported, rather than celebrate the raid, which targeted a Sinaloa Cartel installation, Mexico’s federal government sounded the alarms, claiming that CIA agents had operated in Mexico and it was a violation of national sovereignty.
The issue came at almost the same time as the U.S. government publicly announced the indictment of top people from Mexico’s ruling party, MORENA, for working for the Sinaloa Cartel.
One of those individuals is the sitting governor of Sinaloa, Ruben Rocha Moya. President Claudia Sheinbaum has since fought tooth and nail to protect Rocha Moya and prevent his extradition to the United States, claiming there is no evidence of wrongdoing on his part. That issue has driven a wedge between the U.S. government, which has been increasing the pressure to not only go after cartels but also the politicians who protect them.
In the case against Maru Campos, Sheinbaum herself called for an investigation, claiming that a state governor working directly with a foreign agency was treasonous.
Almost immediately after the initial hearing this week, Campos received a second summons to a kidnapping investigation, claiming she had conspired to kidnap her predecessor, a cartel-linked politician named Javier Corral. The allegation stems from an attempt by Campos to arrest Corral on corruption charges related to financial crimes during Corral’s term as governor.
Recently, Corral has become a strong ally of the MORENA party and even met with one of Rocha Moya’s allies, who is also facing prosecution in the U.S. on drug charges. Since aligning himself with MORENA, Corral has been able to protect himself from political rivals.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.