While newly revealed FBO documents implicate former President Obama in an illegal scheme, the Mexican President is demanding further investigation into a U.S. program that put heavy weapons into the hands of the drug cartels. Despite an Obama executive order that illegally withheld information, there were indications that he directed the operation that the Mexican’s believe violated international law.
On Friday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy, demanding a full investigation into the Fast and Furious gun-walking program instituted under President Obama.
“What seems serious to me is that a violation of our sovereignty was carried out, a secret operation, and that Mexicans were killed with these weapons,” Lopez Obrador said during a press conference in Mexico City on Friday.
“How could this be? A government that invades in this way, that flagrantly violates sovereignty, international laws,” Lopez Obrador continued. “We have to shine light on this so that an action of this type will never be carried out again.”
“There is still time for the U.S. to apologize,” the Mexican president stated.
Obrador said he would be sending an official diplomatic request for more information on the Fast and Furious gunwalking program carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) that became a major scandal that plagued the Obama administration.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard released a video statement in which he explained the position of his government. He noted that if, as Mexican authorities have claimed, the operation was carried out without the knowledge of the Mexican authorities, it was a flagrant violation of the country’s sovereignty. If, as then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has claimed, Fast and Furious was carried out with the knowledge of the Mexican government, then they are guilty of violating Mexico’s constitution.
The rekindling of Mexican interest in Fast and Furious comes in the wake of the arrest of Genaro Garcia Luna, Genaro Garcia Luna, by federal agents last December on drug trafficking and bribery charges. President Obrador said U.S. officials with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Agency should be investigated for potential cooperation with Garcia Luna.
The Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Arizona Field Office of the ATF ran a series of sting operations between 2006 and 2011. The operation, carried out in the Tucson and Phoenix area, involved the ATF purposely allowed licensed firearms dealers to sell weapons to illegal buyers with the intention tracking the guns to Mexican drug cartel leaders and arresting them. Approximately 2,000 guns worth about $1.5 million including automatic and high-powered weapons were sold and only about 710 were recovered. The operation was considered a failure in that no drug cartel leaders or smugglers were arrested.
Guns tracked by the ATF are still being found at crime scenes on both sides of the Mexico–United States border. One gun sold in the operation was used in the murder of United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010 leading to the operation being thrust into the public spotlight. According to Mexican authorities, the guns sold in the operation were found at crime scenes at which at least 150 Mexican civilians were killed. Mexican authorities claim that some of the weapons have been used to perpetrate crimes in other countries as well.
In the ensuing investigation, Attorney General Holder, who should have been investigating the charges, refused to release Justice Department documents, thereby becoming the first sitting member of the Cabinet of the United States to be held in contempt of Congress. The frustration with Holder was so strong, that over 40 other members of Congress called for his resignation. His withholding documents was done at the behest of then-President Obama who invoked executive privilege for the first time in his presidency. In 2016, a federal court ruled that the records in question were not covered by privilege, however, a House lawsuit to try to recover the records is still pending in federal court. The Obama administration declined to prosecute Holder.
Though Obama has denied authorizing the operation, there remain doubts as there has never been a complete investigation into his involvement.
Details of the operation were not shared with the Mexican government which, understandably, reacted in anger when it was revealed, calling Fast and Furious “a violation of international law.”. In November 2011, it was reported that the Mexican Attorney General’s office was seeking the extradition of six citizens of the United States implicated with smuggling weapons.
The Mexican demand to reopen the investigation into Fast and Furious comes at the same time that newly revealed FBI documents exonerated General Michael Flynn and implicate the Obama White House in orchestrating an unjustified investigation into Trump.
