Meet the shadowy drug cartel that brought down Mexico’s former top General

A U.S. indictment behind the arrest of retired General Cienfuegos last week named the H-2 Cartel, which allegedly referred to the former military man as ‘the Godfather’.

MEXICO CITY – The family holiday of Mexico’s former defense minister, retired General Salvador Cienfuegos was cut short when he flew into Los Angeles last week. He was arrested before he could leave the airport. Most knew Cienfuegos as the man who led Mexico’s efforts against drug cartels from 2012 to 2018, but U.S. law enforcement accused him of being known as “El Padrino”, or the Godfather in the criminal underworld.ADVERTISEMENT

Proof of how Cienfuegos assisted a little-known group called the H-2 Cartel between 2015 and 2017 to move “thousands of kilograms of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine into the United States” by “ensuring that military operations were not conducted against the H-2 Cartel” and “initiating military operations against its rival drug trafficking organizations,” was the basis of the arrest, according to American officials.

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