A Mexican diplomat in leaked emails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor claims that the United States is partnering with the powerful Sinaloa cartel in a bid to reduce turf war violence as reported by Alex Newman for The New American. The Mexican official, a U.S.-educated lawyer identified only as MX1, makes many explosive charges including the following:
Basically, the message they [U.S. authorities] want to send out is that Sinaloa is winning and that the violence is unacceptable. They want the CARTELS to negotiate with EACH OTHER. The idea is that if they can do this, violence will drop and the governments [Mexico and the U.S.] will allow controlled drug trades.
An increasing number of well-respected and highly-informed individuals are speculating that the U.S. "Fast and Furious" gun-running scandal was a CIA operation to arm the Sinaloa cartel in order to defeat Los Zetas as reported by Michael Walsh for the New York Post:Under this theory, the Agency feared the los Zetas drug cartel was becoming too powerful and might even mount a coup against the Mexican government. So some 2,000 weapons costing more than $1.25 million were deliberately channeled to the rival Sinaloa cartel, which operates along the American border, to keep the Zetas in check.
This theory certainly makes sense since there was no mechanism in place to track the guns, and accordingly there otherwise could be no legitimate law enforcement objective to allowing them over the border.
Both gangsters and politicians in Mexico long have suspected that the Sinaloa cartel was getting a pass. For example, in June 2011 Congressman Manuel Clouthier stated "it is obvious that in Sinaloa there is a pact" as then reported by Alexandra Olson for The Associated Press: "'It has been a safe state for organized crime to live there and work there and develop with total tranquility,' he charges."
A top lieutenant for the Sinaloa cartel claims that he and other reputed leaders were allowed by U.S. authorities to bring cocaine into the country for years in exchange for information on rivals, and although federal prosecutors admit to at least one cooperating agreement otherwise deny that Sinaloa traffickers received immunity from prosecution.
The Mexican drug cartels move $50 billion in bulk product and bundled cash back and forth over the border each year, and their reach extends into nearly every community throughout the United States. It's hard to believe that they could accomplish this feat without help from some well-placed American friends. Remember: organized crime cannot exist without public corruption.
