Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is defending a federal lawmaker from her own political party who was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. She dismissed the accusations as unproven and insisted Mexico would not investigate unless Washington provided concrete evidence.
In one of her recent news conferences, Sheinbaum claimed that the U.S. government had not provided them with “enough proof” to show that Federal Representative Hilda Aracely Brown was working with organized crime. As such, Mexican financial authorities have not moved to freeze her accounts and assets, unlike U.S. Treasury officials.
“On our side, there is not enough proof to establish the money laundering that they claim, so it was a decision by the US authorities,” she said when asked if Mexico has played a role in the recent announcement by the U.S. Treasury, which moved to sanction Brown and several members of the Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. If they show their proof, then we will open an investigation. “If they show their proof, then we will open an investigation.”
As Breitbart Texas reported, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against the Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and some of its key lieutenants, including Juan Jose “El Ruso” Ponce Felix. In their statement, treasury officials listed Brown as the former mayor of Rosarito, Baja California, and claimed that she had used her position to protect and benefit Los Mayos.
Brown became a federal representative for Mexico’s ruling party MORENA in September 2024, a position she continues to hold.
The action by U.S. authorities that moved to freeze Brown’s assets comes at a time of great turmoil within Mexico’s political elite, where several high ranking members of the ruling party MORENA have been outed in various public corruption cases, for ties to organized crime and most recently, as Breitbart Texas reported, for a large scale cartel fuel network that allegedly even implicated the two sons of former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded the 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 Iortiz@breitbart.com.
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 bdarby@breitbart.com.
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