U.S. authorities late Thursday night detained Mexico’s former defense minister, the retired General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, at the Los Angeles International Airport.
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard in a tweet said the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau, told him Cienfuegos Zepeda was arrested on a warrant from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The United States has not confirmed his detention and the charges against him have not yet been announced.
Ebrard said he was waiting for the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles to inform him of the charges but expected to hear by the end of the day. He added that the 72-year-old retired general would receive normal consular services.
Cienfuegos Zepeda served as defense secretary from 2012 to 2018 under former President Enrique Peña Nieto. He used the military to launch a widespread campaign against drug cartels in the nation.
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