From the moment that U.S. federal agents arrested a former Mexican defense minister last month on drug trafficking charges, the highest levels of the Mexican government were outraged at being kept in the dark about the case, seeing it as an affront, a betrayal — an egregious breach of trust among allies.
Those emotions reached a peak in recent days, as Mexico City issued an unheard-of warning to its counterparts in Washington: If the United States did not rethink its pursuit of Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Mexico would consider expelling U.S. federal drug agents from the country, jeopardizing a decades-long partnership that has helped bring several top drug lords to justice, according to three people familiar with the matter.
That threat appeared to work. On Wednesday, at the request of Attorney General William Barr, a federal judge in Brooklyn said she would formally dismiss the charges against Cienfuegos, a former army
1h ago
