> >Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 00:27:08 +0000 > >Subject: Salinas + Narcos (news) > >Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >From: rc whalen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: Salinas + Narcos (news) > > > >Listeros: > > > >Remember who told you first. > > > >Un gran abrazo a todos! > > > >Diablito > > > > > > MEXICO CITY, Feb 16 (Reuter) - U.S. investigators have established close > >links between former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, his family > >and other ex-officials and Mexico's most powerful and bloodthirsty drug > >traffickers, a magazine reported on Sunday. > > Proceso magazine cited U.S. Justice Department documents being used in > >an investigation of a former Mexican prosecutor, Mario Ruiz Massieu, who is > >suspected of drug trafficking and money laundering. > > The former president's lawyer, Juan Velazquez, told Reuters the report > >was "absolutely absurd" but said he would withhold further comment. Other > >Salinas family members and lawyers could not be reached for comment. A > >spokeswoman at the Mexican Attorney General's Office said there would be no > >immediate official reaction. > > Proceso said U.S. federal prosecutors will present the information > >before a grand jury in Houston starting on March 10. U.S. grand juries > >decide whether individuals will be formally charged with crimes. > > One witness cited by Proceso directly tied Salinas, who was president > >from 1988 to 1994, to convicted drug trafficker Juan Garcia Abrego. > > "The collaborating witness attended various social events in the ranch > >of Raul Salinas (Carlos's brother). Present at some of these events were > >Carlos Salinas, Raul Salinas ... and Juan Garcia Abrego," one of the U.S. > >documents published by Proceso said. "These social events took place during > >the period when Carlos Salinias was president." > > Garcia Abrego was arrested in northern Mexico a year into the term of > >current President Ernesto Zedillo, who succeeded Salinas, and later was > >convicted and sentenced to life in U.S. courts for drug trafficking and > >money laundering. > > The Proceso report said the Salinas clan also was linked to other top > >Mexican drug lords who remain at large. > > Among those also tied to the drug trade are two top Mexican politicians > >who were assassinated in 1994, shaking the Mexican political system to its > >core. Presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was gunned down during a > >campaign rally in Tijuana, and ruling party secretary general Jose Francisco > >Ruiz Massieu was shot dead outside a Mexico City hotel. > > Mexican authorities later arrested the former president's brother, > >Raul, for having masterminded Ruiz Massieu's killing. > > A witness named Magdalena Ruiz Pelayo, in U.S. federal prison on > >unspecified charges, said both Colosio and Ruiz Massieu had stolen large > >amounts of drug money from the Salinas family and other drug traffickers, > >according to the U.S. documents printed by Proceso. > > After his arrest on murder charges, Raul Salinas, who is still in jail, > >was found to have up to $300 million stashed away in European bank accounts. > > One witness cited in the Proceso account said Raul Salinas likely had > >"a couple of billion dollars in the bank" due to his role in granting > >protection to drug traffickers. "The collaborating witness estimated that > >(Raul) Salinas and (Mario) Ruiz Massieu charged $150 million monthly in > >payments coming from the mafias," said the documents. > > REUT > >R.C. Whalen > > > >Legal Research International > >P.O. Box 250 > >Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510-0250 > > > >Tel: (914) 945-0816 > >Fax: (914) 945-0782 > >Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > >
