“La Barbie” planned to kidnap the president of the Electoral Tribunal after AMLO lost the 2006 election

A new “bomb” has fallen like a bucket of cold water on the government of the President Andrés Manuel López Obrador after this Tuesday it was revealed that operators of the Sinaloa Cartel would have injected 2 million dollars into the campaign from Tabasco when he ran for the first time as a presidential candidate in 2006.

However, the revelations made by journalist Tim Golden of the independent media ProPublica They also reveal that the drug trafficker Édgar Valdez Villarreal, alias “La Barbie”, Not only did he participate in the meetings to agree on financing, but he also planned to kidnap the President of the Electoral Court at that time when they declared the PAN member Felipe Calderón Hinojosa the winner over López Obrador.

Before his election as president of Mexico in 2018, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEAacronym in English) discovered evidence that important drug traffickers had contributed approximately 2 million dollars to AMLO’s first presidential campaign.

According to interviews conducted by ProPublica with more than a dozen US and Mexican officials, as well as a review of government documents, it is believed that this money was intended for campaign aides in exchange for future facilities in criminal operations under the potential administration. of the then standard bearer of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). The investigation, however, failed to establish whether López Obrador approved or was even aware of these alleged donations.

According to the aforementioned media, DEA agents considered they had an extraordinary internal source after arresting Roberto López Nájera, a lawyer who would have represented “La Barbie”, and who was a protected witness under the identity of “Jennifer”.

To avoid federal prison, the detainee provided a detailed account of cash donations from drug traffickers, which he said he helped deliver. He also covertly recorded conversations with Nicolás Mollinedo Bastara close collaborator of López Obrador, who, according to the operation, participated in the scheme.

However, some authorities considered that the evidence was not strong enough to justify the risks of an extensive covert operation in Mexico.

According to the research of ProPublicaamong the characters who participated in the negotiation were Nicolás Molinero and other AMLO collaborators who participated in the negotiations; Mauricio Soto Caballero, businessman and political operator accused of receiving and distributing drug trafficking money for the campaign; Sergio Villarreal Barragán, “El Grande”, former state police officer and one of “La Barbie’s” lieutenants.

Other key characters mentioned are Francisco Leon Garcia, known as Pancho León, son of a mining businessman who at that time was launching his own candidacy for the Mexican Senate as a representative of the leftist alliance. León is mentioned in the investigation as one of the figures who organized a meeting in January 2006 with drug traffickers at a hotel in the tourist center of Nuevo Vallarta, on the Pacific coast.

During this meeting, which also involved other businessmen and drug traffickers, León allegedly presented the financing proposal and the benefits that drug traffickers would have.

Therefore, León’s role in these negotiations was to act as a bridge, proposing and facilitating agreements that would benefit both parties if López Obrador won the election.

This agreement It included the possibility that traffickers would influence the election of police commanders in key localities and assured that the president would not appoint an attorney general adverse to them.

Mexico’s 2006 presidential election ended with an extremely close gap in results. Felipe Calderon He was declared the winner by a margin of less than one percentage point over Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Calderón Hinojosa won by approximately 0.56 percent, which in terms of votes translated into around 240,000 votes difference. This very close result was accompanied by controversies and accusations of irregularities in the electoral process.

When AMLO did not win the 2006 presidential elections, Édgar Valdez Villarreal’s reaction was fury. According to informant Roberto López Nájera, “La Barbie” felt betrayed after the election result declared Felipe Calderón the winner by a narrow margin.

In response, “La Barbie” devised an improvised plan to kidnapping the president of the Electoral Tribunal, then Leonel Castillo Gonzálezwith the aim of forcing him to reverse the election decision.

A convoy of armed men was sent to carry out the kidnapping, but they had to turn back when they found that the area was protected by Army troops.

After this event, and despite insisting that he was the legitimate winner of the election, López Obrador organized a massive demonstration in Mexico City, during which La Barbie supposedly donated funds to help support the protesters.

He sit-in on Paseo de la Reforma began on July 30, 2006. This demonstration of discontent, characterized by the establishment of camps along one of the most important avenues in the capital, lasted approximately 47 days, concluding on September 14, 2006.

In late 2011, DEA agents proposed a scheme in which they would offer $5 million in alleged drug money to operatives working on López Obrador’s second presidential campaign. Instead, Justice Department officials closed the investigation, in part over concerns that even a successful prosecution would be viewed by Mexicans as unacceptable American interference in their political affairs.

Since taking office in December 2018, after winning his third bid for power, López Obrador has led a notable retreat from the fight against drugs, focusing on social programs to combat the sources of crime, rather than confrontations. directly with criminals. However, with police and military forces generally avoiding confrontations with the largest drug trafficking gangs, these mafias have spread their influence throughout Mexico.