Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
Manuel Espino publicly reported that two cartels were open to a pact “in good faith” with AMLO. The revelation indicated that a consultation process was underway with “the cartels” to find out which ones would join the “peace process”. At first, there was no response from the President, as if he was waiting to calculate the possible responses to the unusual approach of Espino, a Morena asset currently without an identifiable job.
After Espino’s public confession, the Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López, confirmed that he had talked to him seven or eight months ago about the alleged “plan to pacify the country”. At that time, Espino served as Commissioner of the Federal Protective Service, a position he left 15 days after his conversation with the Secretary of the Interior.
There is the impression that Espino was given the authorization to have the freedom to explore “with the cartels about a peace proposal” without it being taken as an official proposal. Hence his resignation from his position within the federal public administration.
According to Espino himself, the consultation process would have resulted in two cartels being willing to open a formal dialogue with the federal government. It was not identified which two cartels would have given their consent to such a dialogue, nor was the format or agenda of the dialogues explained. But it is clear that Espino would have spoken to many other players in Mexico’s criminal world, of which only two would have expressed their agreement to the proposed “good faith” dialogue.
Eight months is an eternity to talk to multiple organizations and characters. The time was established by the Secretary of the Interior himself in his statements when he acknowledged having discussed the matter with Espino and by his evasive attitude in not wanting to answer the question of whether he had given Espino the green light to undertake his mission. It must be understood that the Ministry of the Interior consented to the “exploration”.
Between the time Espino received the unofficial exploration and resigned from his position as Commissioner 15 days after speaking with Adán Augusto López and the present day, approximately eight months have elapsed. During that time, there have been significant changes in the national political scenario. Things have matured, but against a peace project with the cartels, if there really was such a plan.
First, the relationship with the United States is experiencing an accelerated and dangerous deterioration. In this environment, where Mexico is apparently preparing for an economic break with our USMCA partners over the 4T energy project, the cost of financial stability could be extremely high. It is foreseeable that from November 9 onwards, tensions between the three countries could grow notably within the USMCA negotiation. And the political pressures will grow according to the requirements as the trilateral tension environment develops. Any news or revelations with photographs or recordings may appear in the media of these countries.
On the other hand, the revelations of the Guacamaya hacking will not only continue, but as time goes by, the discredit of the Mexican Armed Forces and the government of López Obrador will grow relentlessly. There is a version that the most scandalous is coming soon. For now, since Espino and Lopez spoke in the Interior Ministry, the complicity of the Secretary of the Interior with the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation when he was governor of Tabasco has already been revealed. And it is affirmed and confirmed by the Mexican Army, not by “an opposition journalist”. And it is a complicity that persists to this day. For example, the new Commissioner for the Ayotzinapa investigation was a Lopez operator at the time, also linked to the CJNG. The same operators, all with ties to organized crime in their states. And all related to AMLO.
Manuel Espino himself has had serious accusations of links to drug trafficking since he worked with Vicente Fox. He was President Fox’s travel coordinator when it was discovered that his friend and fellow countryman Nahum Acosta Lugo was leaking information about presidential trips to drug traffickers. In fact, the accusations about the links with drug trafficking even reached the President’s Private Secretary, Alfonso Durazo, now a Morenista governor of Sonora. After Nahum Acosta’s arrest, Espino denied any link with drug trafficking and declared that Alfonso Durazo insisted on hiring the accused.
Today Espino and Durazo collaborate with AMLO and Morena in a big family with hidden complicities.
In the current context of foreseeable political crises in the short and medium term, the inevitable question arises: why is Espino publicly raising now his proposal for the federal government to negotiate with drug traffickers? In principle, the proposal, in itself, is scandalous, so why is he being given so much space in the Presidency?
One reason is that it offers President López Obrador a magnificent opportunity to state that he does not negotiate with drug traffickers. According to AMLO, “hugs, not bullets” does not mean negotiating with criminal elements. He said: “we have defined a policy of zero corruption and zero impunity, both organized and white collar crime…”. He added: “the border is well painted because authority is one thing and crime is another. When there is no border, as it happened before, it is chaos”.
Is it clear? The presidential statement is an elliptical answer that could mean anything because the reality is in the Guacamaya Papers. There it is clearly observed that the Army has the presidential instruction to let organized crime act freely.
Espino’s alleged proposal is similar to that of the soccer player who puts the ball on another player so that he can score the goal. It allowed the President to say he would not negotiate with drug trafficking. Then the next question arises: what is the President’s need to clarify the issue? Is he anticipating data or public information that would accuse his involvement in a negotiation with the cartels? Is he worried about the repercussions of an eventual break with Washington?
Only time will tell. For now, Espino continues to be, as always, the courier between two powers: the State and drug trafficking. Until, for convenience, they decide to get rid of him.
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