\n<\/p>\n
Mexican officials aren\u2019t even trying to hide the fact that the highest ranks of their federal government is rife with narco-terrorism corruption. That\u2019s not new, but it is rather bold, given that the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a petition to dismiss their frivolous case claiming U.S. firearm manufacturers are responsible for violent crime that\u2019s plagued that country for decades.<\/p>\n
If Mexican officials are trying to prove their case, their lawyers\u2019 arguments aren\u2019t matching what their own government is showing the world. Criminal drug cartels \u2013 which foment the murderous and illicit drug trade \u2013 continue to be comfortably embedded in their government, right up to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of former Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador.<\/p>\n
Mexican President Sheinbaum\u00a0invited<\/a>\u00a0former Mexican Secretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos to the stage with her during a military ceremony commemorating the 112th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of Mexico\u2019s Loyalty. This is the same Cienfuegos who\u00a0was arrested in 2020<\/a>\u00a0by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for his ties to narco-terrorist drug cartels. He was the highest-ranking Mexican official arrested by U.S. authorities for drug trafficking, which has gone hand-in-hand with illegal firearm smuggling.<\/p>\n The DOJ accused him of using his position as the head of Mexico\u2019s military to benefit drug cartels. According to a Breitbart report, he was even referred to as the \u201cGodfather<\/a>.\u201d The \u201cGodfather\u201d Cienfuegos even showed up to the ceremony this week wearing his old military uniform, taking his place among the other senior-ranking Mexican authorities and politicians, just feet from Mexican President Sheinbaum.<\/p>\n The DOJ celebrated Cienfuegos\u2019 arrest in 2020, issuing a\u00a0press release<\/a>\u00a0that he was arrested in Los Angeles \u201con U.S. charges of conspiracy to manufacture, import, and distribute narcotics into the United States and money laundering.\u201d In the same press release, the DOJ announced it made the decision to seek dismissal of the charges and turn him back over to Mexican authorities for investigation and charges under Mexican law.<\/p>\n Except, that never happened.<\/p>\n One\u00a0Associated Press report<\/a>\u00a0alleged Mexico threatened to expel the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s (DEA) regional director and agents unless the case was dropped. Officially, the decision was based upon \u201cthe broader interest in maintaining that relationship in a cooperative way\u201d with Mexico.<\/p>\n Mexico\u2019s attorney general\u2019s office released Cienfuegos after saying they found no ties to narco-terrorist drug cartels. Mexico\u2019s then-President L\u00f3pez Obrador hailed the charges being dropped,\u00a0saying<\/a>\u00a0the DEA made it all up. President L\u00f3pez Obrador even went as far as to give Cienfuegos a military award in front of representatives from Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and other South American and Asian countries.<\/p>\n This was the same Mexican president who is believed to have\u00a0taken bribes<\/a>\u00a0from narco-terrorist drug cartels for his own election and used a soft approach toward the cartels. Mexican government corruption was embodied through President L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s \u201chugs, not bullets\u201d campaign. That effort was\u00a0labelled a failure<\/a>\u00a0by the Council on Foreign Relations.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not unexpected with corrupt Mexican officials running the show. The\u00a0Brookings Institution reported<\/a>, \u201cAlthough serving as Mexico\u2019s highest military official and, given the role of the Mexican military policing, also a top law enforcement official, Cienfuegos allegedly directed Mexican law enforcement actions away from the H-2 cartel and against its drug rivals. As per the U.S. indictment, he promoted and enabled drug trafficking of the H-2 cartel, not put off even by its highly murderous ways.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that Cienfuegos didn\u2019t quietly slip into the Mexican countryside. He\u2019s just yards \u2013 literally \u2013 from the Mexican president even as her nation\u2019s lawyers are set to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that U.S. firearm manufacturers are to blame for violent crime in Mexico. They\u2019re suing several firearm manufacturers for $10 billion. That case,\u00a0Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et al.<\/em>,\u00a0was petitioned<\/a>\u00a0to the Supreme Court by Smith & Wesson after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit revived the case after it was dismissed by a lower federal court. NSSF has filed an\u00a0amicus brief<\/a>\u00a0supporting Smith & Wesson\u2019s argument that the frivolous lawsuit is barred by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).<\/p>\n NSSF\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0that nothing changed in Mexico\u2019s approach to curbing narco-terrorist drug cartels with a new Mexican president. It\u2019s more of the same, and apparently that includes close ties to known drug traffickers that fuel the rampant, murderous crime south of the border.<\/p>\n The White House concurs. In President Donald Trump\u2019s Fact Sheet regarding tariffs on Mexico, it\u00a0was noted<\/a>\u00a0that \u201c\u2026 Mexican drug trafficking organizations have an intolerable alliance with the government of Mexico. The government of Mexico has afforded safe havens for the cartels\u2026\u201d adding, \u201c\u2026 this alliance endangers the national security of the United States\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Mexico\u2019s lawyers will stand before the justices of the Supreme Court on March 4 to argue their case that firearm manufacturers are somehow responsible for lawfully made and lawfully sold firearms in the United States being illegally trafficked through criminal drug cartel networks into Mexico. They\u2019ll do it even as Mexico\u2019s president cozies up with corrupt government officials known to foster the very violent crimes of which they deflect from themselves and to American firearm manufacturers that follow the law.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nMexico\u2019s \u2018Godfather\u2019<\/h2>\n
Day in Court<\/h2>\n