A U.S. news organization used a series of fixers to be able to travel into Mexico and publish a news story where they try to paint a Mexican cartel behind thousands of brutal killings, forced disappearances, and arson attacks targeting innocent civilians in a positive light.
In a report (linked below) by Isobel Yeung, CNN highlighted their trip to Sinaloa, where they tried to highlight the so-called efforts of Mexico’s government, claiming that thousands of suspects have been arrested and tons of drugs have been seized.
The report parrots a series of talking points that have been pushed by Mexico’s government, where public officials have been embellishing seizures and the profile of minor figures as a way to appease the Trump administration, which has been calling out Mexico and their historic protection of cartels.
In the report, Yeong claims to have worked with a contact to get an interview with a Sinaloa Cartel member. What CNN does not reveal is that those meetings and interviews appear to be arranged through public relations individuals who have in the past moved journalists to certain areas and staged interviews with them where they push out pre-approved talking points that show the cartel in a positive light.
Yeung seems to have followed the pattern, letting the cartel operator talk about how he fell into a life of crime due to a lack of opportunities.
“According to the Trump administration, you are a terrorist. Cartels have been labelled foreign terrorist organizations. What do you make of that?” Yeung asked.
“The situation is ugly, but we have to eat,” the cartel member said.
She then asked if he had a message for U.S. President Donald Trump, to which the cartel member responded, “My respect, he has to, according to him, look out for his people.”
The story is the latest example by mainstream media to try to paint cartels as victims of the Trump administration and not as the ruthless killers responsible for spreading terror throughout Mexico and death by lethal drugs across the United States. As Breitbart Texas reported, in March, the New York Times had a similar story to the one published by CNN, where cartel members claimed to be in fear for their families after being labelled as terrorists.
What CNN and the New York Times fail to mention is that the brunt of the violence in Sinaloa and other parts of Mexico is not tied to any enforcement actions by Mexico’s government but by a fierce turf war between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Additionally, Mexico’s second largest cartel, Cartel Jalisco New Generation, continues to operate throughout Mexico with relative impunity, mainly due to a close relationship between their boss Ruben Nenesio “Mencho” Oseguera and Mexico’s Secretary of Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, Breitbart Texas reported.
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].
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