Salinas Warns Mexico Against Drug Probe

Former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari lashed out from his self-imposed seclusion Monday, warning Mexico’s top justice officials that they could be implicated in a widening scandal about drug trafficking during his administration.

Salinas counterattacked after the leak of a report claiming that his brother Raul virtually ran narcotics traffic in Mexico during the 1988-94 Salinas presidency. That secret report was drawn up by Swiss police investigating possible money laundering by Raul Salinas.

The former president demanded Monday that Mexican justice officials officially discredit the report, parts of which were leaked to the New York Times. Through his lawyer, he said that many of the witnesses against his brother were jailed drug traffickers whose testimony cannot be trusted.

Salinas’ warning also indicated that Mexico’s top political groups, who traditionally send discreet messages to one another, are now displaying all the gentility of boxing champion Oscar de la Hoya on match night. It indicated that any probe into the Salinas’ involvement in trafficking could tar the government of current President Ernesto Zedillo.

Raymundo Riva Palacio, a prominent political columnist, said Salinas was warning not only Atty. Gen. Jorge Madrazo Cuellar but the entire government.

The former president, once considered a close ally of the U.S. government, has denied any ties to drug trafficking. Salinas lives in self-imposed exile in Europe, an outcast since an economic crisis left his reputation in tatters.

His brother also denies criminal activity. But the secret report prepared by the Swiss police during their three-year investigation paints a devastating portrait of Raul. Expanding on previously reported allegations that he was tied to leading drug traffickers, it reportedly depicts the former president’s brother as a virtual godfather.

“When Carlos Salinas de Gortari became president of Mexico in 1988, Raul Salinas de Gortari assumed control over practically all drug shipments through Mexico,” the report states, according to the New York Times.

While working as a midlevel government functionary, Raul Salinas directed soldiers and police to allow the movement of cocaine shipments, and even commandeered government vehicles to truck cocaine to the U.S., it claims.

Raul Salinas has been in jail in Mexico for three years on accusations of murder and illegal enrichment. But several other charges have been dropped, and many observers believe that he could be released shortly due to the weakness of the cases against him.

Mariano Albor, the attorney for former President Salinas, has asked Madrazo to investigate the witnesses quoted in the Swiss report to prove their statements would be inadmissible under Mexican law.

He said many of the witnesses were traffickers in U.S. jails, who provided “false information” in exchange for reduced sentences or other benefits.

The former president’s lawyer didn’t stop at asking justice officials to discredit the report. He asked justice officials not only to “determine the falsity of the witnesses” quoted in the Swiss report but to “take penal action against them.”

If the attorney general does not act, Salinas’ lawyer warned bluntly, he could face trouble himself.

“These witnesses who are behaving falsely from foreign jails . . . have launched such a serious attack that neither you nor your staff, Mr. Attorney General, can escape the kind of grave accusations that these people make,” said Albor, whose statement was provided to journalists.

He noted that Madrazo and senior members of his staff also served in Salinas’ administration. Those who attacked the former president’s anti-drug credentials could tar the current officials as well, he said.

In a brief interview, Madrazo said, “I have nothing to fear from what Mr. Albor or anyone else could say. I am absolutely sure the same is true for my staff.” U.S. officials have expressed confidence that Madrazo is honest.

Madrazo pointed out that he was a human rights official, not a drug investigator, during the Salinas administration. He acknowledged that several of his top aides were veteran justice officials, but added, “I am convinced if they needed to do a specific investigation into drug trafficking during the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, they would have done it.”

Analysts said the unusual declaration by the former president appeared to be a warning to the Mexican government not to pursue the Salinas family.

“I see this as a message to Zedillo and Madrazo, to not think about charging Raul with drug trafficking and money laundering” based on the Swiss investigation, said Luis Astorga, a sociologist and prominent expert on drug trafficking.

Salinas, he said, wants “to remind them that he has information too.”

Riva Palacio said that the attorney general’s office has been aggressively pursuing the Salinas family recently, by searching a family-owned company and seeking to question Raul Salinas’ associates. Carlos Salinas was now striking back, he said.

“Salinas’ level of belligerency has been growing,” he said.

Swiss authorities are expected to use the police report to try to seize more than $100 million in Swiss bank accounts maintained by Raul Salinas. His lawyers have held that the money was part of a legal investment pool maintained by Raul Salinas and several associates.

The Swiss report does not implicate former President Salinas in drug trafficking, but it does “seriously question the probability that a person with as much power as the president of Mexico for years did not learn about criminal activities of this extent,” the New York Times reported.