Mexican President Lopez Obrador has strongly rejected claims that drug traffickers helped finance his first presidential campaign in 2006, describing the allegations as "completely false".
He also criticized US officials for violating "political ethics" after the allegations appeared in an article published by the news site ProPublica that quoted US officials. According to investigative journalist Tim Golden's report, US drug enforcement agents have found "substantial evidence" that cocaine traffickers funneled about $2 million to López Obrador's campaign. "This is slander... there is no evidence" of illegal financing, the Mexican president said at his regular morning news conference. "I condemn the US government for allowing these immoral practices contrary to the political ethics that should prevail in all governments around the world," he added. Golden's article, based on interviews with U.S. and Mexican officials as well as government documents, alleged that the traffickers provided funds in exchange for a promise that López Obrador's government would facilitate their operations. The report said it was unclear whether López Obrador sanctioned or was even aware of the funding. T
he narrowly lost the election. Similar articles were also published by the think tank InSight Crime and the German media group Deutsche Welle. Lopez Obrador dismissed the allegations as a political attack by his opponents ahead of June's presidential election, which he hopes will be won by his close ally Claudia Sheinbaum.
The Mexican leader, who enjoys a public approval rating of around 70 percent but is only eligible to serve one term, accuses Washington of failing in its anti-drug strategy. Since taking office in 2018, López Obrador has championed a "hugs, not bullets" strategy to tackle violent crime at its roots, fighting poverty and inequality with social programs rather than the military. Mexico has recorded more than 420,000 murders since 2006, when the government threw in the military to fight drug trafficking, most of them blamed on criminal gangs. /BGNES
