US coordinates fight on money laundering with Mexico
In the beginning of December, the US insisted that operations aimed to combat money laundering are coordinated fully with Mexico, amid controversy over a report that United States’ agents laundered drug proceeds to see how the system works.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the operations aimed to disrupt money laundering networks are fully vetted and fully coordinated with Mexican authorities. Toner stressed: “The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) works with Mexican authorities to gather and use information about these criminal organizations to counter threats that they pose to both our countries”.
According to the Mexican government, bilateral work is done in an existing legal framework that covers activities of international authorities on the territory of Mexico.
However, many Mexican politicians want more information. The Senate security committee chairman in Mexico City, Felipe Gonzalez, said that President Felipe Calderon should report to Congress on the anti-money laundering operations. He suggested that the facts about what has been achieved in terms of arrests, seizures of funds and crime reduction should be revealed. It is worth noting that since 2006, when its government launched a major military crackdown against the powerful drug cartels, some 45 000 people have been killed in Mexico.