MEXICO CITY — Mexico accused its former drug czar Friday of taking $450,000 from a cartel he was supposed to destroy, going public with a scandal that deals a blow to the country’s U.S.-backed drug war.
Noe Ramirez is the highest- ranking law enforcement official detained yet as part of Mexico’s effort to weed out officials who allegedly shared police information with violent drug smugglers. The corruption scandal is the biggest to rock the Mexican government in more than a decade.
Although the arrest complicates President Felipe Calderon’s nationwide crackdown on the drug trade, Attorney General Eduardo Medina said it also proved the government’s commitment to rooting out corruption.
That commitment could be key to ensuring continued U.S. support for its drug fight. The U.S. Congress conditioned 15 percent of a still-to-be-released $400 million aid package on Mexico’s efforts to clean up its police force.
For many in Mexico, the government’s very public admission of the problem was more surprising than the allegations themselves.
A news conference Friday provided a rare glimpse into details of how cartels allegedly bought off top officials.
Medina said Ramirez accepted $450,000 from a member of the Pacific cartel, who offered to pay him similar amounts each month for alerting the drug gang to planned police operations. It was unclear whether the subsequent payments were ever made. The cartel member is now cooperating with investigators, Medina said.
