Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced that her government would be filing a lawsuit in the Mexican court system against a U.S. defense attorney who called her and her government corrupt. The attorney is the same individual who represented one of the leaders of Los Chapitos in court.
During her morning news conference, Sheinbaum announced that her government would be suing Jeffrey Lichtman for defamation after the lawyer made various comments about Sheinbaum and her government, alleging corruption, and also posted on social media that she acted as the PR wing for drug cartels. It remains unclear if a lawsuit in a Mexican court could even be enforceable against a U.S. citizen.
Lichtman’s comments garnered significant attention in Mexico, as he is currently representing Ovidio “El Raton” Guzmán, a leader within the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and the son of jailed kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
As Breitbart Texas reported, last week, Lichtman first called out Sheinbaum over her “ridiculous” demands that the U.S. government obtain access to any information Guzman claims and that his claims must be backed up by evidence. Lichtman pointed out how Mexico had protected former Mexican Secretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos, who had drug charges in the U.S. Mexico asked to prosecute first, and then released him.
Sheinbaum’s political opponents have long speculated that testimony and confessions from the younger Guzman could implicate Mexico’s ruling party, MORENA, which was founded by Sheinbaum’s mentor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Since the start of the Trump administration, Sheinbaum has been under extreme pressure over an “intolerable relationship” with drug cartels. Most recently, Trump announced a 30 percent tariff on Mexico for not having “done enough” to fight the cartels. Many of Mexico’s drug cartels are designated by the U.S. State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Read the full article here