January 15, 2019

"Former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto took a $100 million bribe from international drug traffickers..."

"... according to a witness at the trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the infamous crime lord known as El Chapo," the NYT reports.

ADDED: Remember Trump's (leaked) conversation with Peña Nieto, back in August 2017?
You have some pretty tough hombres in Mexico that you may need help with, and we are willing to help you with that big-league. But they have to be knocked out and you have not done a good job of knocking them out. We have a massive drug problem where kids are becoming addicted to drugs because drugs are being sold for less money than candy because there is so much of it. So we have to work together to knock that out. And I know this is a tough group of people, and maybe your military is afraid of them, but our military is not afraid of them, and we will help you with that 100 percent because it is out of control – totally out of control.

86 comments:

mezzrow said...

This is my shocked face.

rehajm said...

Couldn't we bribe someone down there to build the wall for us?

Earnest Prole said...

"You have some pretty tough hombres in Mexico" is one of the funniest lines ever uttered.

Bay Area Guy said...

A shithole country?

Limited blogger said...

Well Trump is technically the president of North America, so he will eventually get around to cleaning up Mexico and Canada. Be patient.

gspencer said...

Could explain why there are crisis after crisis at the border.

FullMoon said...

How much is that after taxes?

Temujin said...

Dems: We don't need border security. We don't need an ID to vote. We want expanded election days and instant voter registration. And we want vote harvesting nationally, just like we recently completed in California. Now, we're going to Puerto Rico to play for a week while you all get this sorted out. Don't worry, we're not spending government money. We wouldn't do that. It's all paid for by lobbyists and corporations.

Now shut up and get to work. We've got a lot of new voters we're going to have to pay for, and someone's got to cover that cost.

FullMoon said...

Wouldn't it be great to use drones to bust up Mexican drug sites?

As mentioned by others before ,a lot of serious stuff coming from China.

Limited blogger said...

They better get a new season of 'American Idol' started up. People may start sniffing around some of these corruption stories.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

M3-13 taking over urban areas. Dems don't care.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Yeah, but Trump fired Comey!!

I'm Full of Soup said...

It's amazing how sensible Trump has taken on our most obvious problems:

1-Tax relief
2- Economic malaise- remember how the Dem elitists were saying the "new normal" was 1-2% GDP growth and 8% unemployment
3- Reduced the morass of federal dumbass regulations.
4- Standing up for and looking out for Americans and America First. Not one previous president even acknowledged how trade tariffs were killing American jobs and industry. Those no-good presidents including Bush II, Obama and Clinton were clueless and just did not GAF. They were and are too cowardly to rock the globalist boat.
5- Secure our borders and question dumb immigration policies like Chain Migration and Diversity Lottery. Again, prior presidents and Congress critters ignored how the country was being abused by foreigners and stupid federal rules.
6- Open borders and drug smugglers are actually killing Americans.

Why is Trump considered so evil by so many? Because he saw the most obvious problems and is trying to fix them.

rehajm said...

7- Not Hillary.

(apparently names are reasons)

Tank said...

Gotta admit, $100M is a pretty strong argument.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Yeah I forgot that one Rejahm and it's the biggest of them all!

Drago said...

Hillary: Only $100M? Pikers!

YoungHegelian said...

Is there any Mexican president who didn't load up on graft on the way out? Maybe Vicente Fox?

Hell, Lopez-Portillo loaded up & then de-camped to Spain. That must have been seen by the electorate as a kick-in-the-face.

gadfly said...

Trump should have added:
". . . and besides I have my killer authoritarian dictator buddies, Russki KGB Putin, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Fishy and "The Turk," Recep Yippeekyay Motherfokker to make sure the job is done right."

buwaya said...

It makes one wonder just how much drug money makes it into US politics, directly or well-laundered.

In CA it certainly isn't negligible.

RichardJohnson said...

Enrique Peña Nieto belongs to the PRI, which ruled Mexico from 1930-2000. Why am I not surprised that he would pocket $100 million?

Spiros Pappas said...

If this is true, Mr. Nieto should be executed.

donald said...

Or at least kick back 20 percent.

buwaya said...

Wander out of the developed world (or maybe just Scandinavia) and you enter the lands of alternate ethical standards.

There is nobody at all, with power worth mentioning, with clean hands.

If you start balking at making deals with nasty people you will find that there is nobody you can deal with. There has never been an Arab or Turkish or Russian or Mexican or Iranian government that would look good under a US MSM barrage. There is just too much actual truth to use against any of them.

And the US government is in exactly the same state. Any foreigner can point at the US and make a tu quoque.

bagoh20 said...

Plata o plomo?

$100 million seems like a lot more than necessary, especially when everyone knows they can just kill you instead.

bagoh20 said...

A Mexican cartel could offer me $1 and I'd take it. You just hope they never ask for anything.

Michael K said...

that would look good under a US MSM barrage.

Assuming the Media is not owned by them. Safe assumption ?

alanc709 said...

Institutional Revolutionary Party. Seems like a lot of words to say Failed Democracy.

Skeptical Voter said...

Well the higher you go up in the Mexican government the more expensive the bribes become. Long ago (but not that far away--in Tijuana at the then infamous Blue Fox club) a college friend and I bribed a Tijuana cop for 38 cents. Why 38 cents? Because that was all we had left in our pockets after drinking too much beer. The cop may have been a tough hombre, but his bagman was a one legged guy on crutches.

BarrySanders20 said...

Why assume the witness is truthful? Anyone can say anything. Nieto is not on trial and there are no corroborating facts given, in part because that is not what the trial is about. What's a more probable explanation than el Presidente took one hundred meel-yon dollars?

Como se dice, "Look! A squirrel!"

(La gente all look out las ventanas).

And guapo Chapo slips out the back, Jack. Just needs Lee with the key to complete the 50 ways to leave Mexican custody.

Lucid-Ideas said...

"We could never have such a democracy, a political system, as the United States here in Venezuela because we could never have the people and citizens of the United States. Such a democracy could only be delivered and maintained by incorruptible saintly men!"

- Simon Bolivar

gadfly said...

@buwaya said...

There is nobody at all, with power worth mentioning, with clean hands.

And the US government is in exactly the same state. Any foreigner can point at the US and make a tu quoque.


Tu quoque indeed:

“From 2003 to 2017, people from the former USSR made 86 all-cash purchases — a red flag of potential money laundering — of Trump properties, totaling $109 million. In 2010, the private-wealth division of Deutsche Bank also loaned him hundreds of millions of dollars during the same period it was laundering billions in Russian money. ‘Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,’ said Donald Jr. in 2008. ‘We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia,’ boasted Eric Trump in 2014.”

tim in vermont said...

150 million from Putin cronies to Hillary doesn't raise an eyebrow. And look how they worked to undermine Trump with that leak.

Dave Begley said...

Americans need to face facts. The American Democrat Party is no better. More people die from opioid drug overdoses than car wrecks. And where do the drugs come from? Mexico.

Illegal immigration keeps wages low.

A Wall would make the drugs more expensive and more difficult to get into this country. It would also raise wages for low skill workers.

The Democrat Party is the Enemy of American Citizens.

Dave Begley said...

The Dems love the disrespect of the law that the failed Latin American cultures are bringing here. The Dems are lawless.

mccullough said...

Buwaya,

The key is not to get caught. No one likes leaders who get caught. They come off bad. Weak and incompetent.

tim in vermont said...

Yeah, sure gadfly. Is that really the best you got? That Trump sold real estate to all comers? Including Russians? You're a monomaniac. Were we at war with Russia at the time? Were laws broken by Trump?

What you have there is a baseless smear.

tim in vermont said...

Trump had a responsibility to thoroughly investigate the finances of all cash buyers? There are many people who buy with cash, believe it or not. It's a deal sweetener. Have your money in ten days with less risk of the deal falling apart.

Oso Negro said...

@Buwaya - You know the answer, friend, and it grieves me to confess that I know it also. There is certainly drug money involved in US politics, there are certainly corrupt officials, and it wouldn't surprise me if the cartels prefer open borders and influence Democrats and Republicans to prefer the same. The corruption can be at all levels. Here in Galveston, there was a drug dealer living on the corner house next to me for eight years. He was known to be such by all of the neighborhood. He was complained about to the police. I personally threatened him once because of the problem people that were associated with his trade. Two years ago, he violated my rules and was spied making up dime bags while parked in front of my house. My son made a video of the work. It was difficult to get the Galveston police interested, but they eventually sent a patrol car. The narcos ran away and hid, leaving their drugs on plain sight in the front seat. I called the police a SECOND time. It was difficult to get them to respond and then the officer who arrived said that there was nothing he could do, despite the drugs IN PLAIN SIGHT on the front seat. A cousin of the narcos came up to explain that they were just having a smoke. This despite the video evidence offered. Finally the officer noted that the car was parked too far from the curb and had it towed. It was back by evening. A year later, the dealer next store went on a one man crime spree - he stole one car, stole another (the second containing a baby, which he left in the parking lot of a local chicken establishment). This, at last, proved too much for Galveston's finest. They sent the SWAT team, plus their MRAP (I was delighted) and hauled him out with heroin, ecstasy, and firearms that as a previously convicted felon (drugs, firearms) he should not have possessed. He is gone now, for good. But his mother will probably install another marginal person in the house. By the way, the cop who responded on the day I called was later found to be in league with the local narcos and tipping them off when the law was headed their way. America, 21st century.

tim in vermont said...

If you were buying real estate with cash and the seller started asking a lot of questions where the money came from, you would walk away. Especially if the money is legitimate.

mockturtle said...

Mexican officials on the cartels' payroll? Next you'll be telling us carnival games are rigged!

Dave Begley said...

“I think if you were Satan and you were settin around tryin to think up somethin that would just bring the human race to its knees what you would probably come up with is narcotics.”

― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

The Dems are the party of drugs.

buwaya said...

The SF Bay Area, Seattle and Vancouver would feel ... underbuilt, without thousands of Chinese/Asian/Russian cash-investors. There are whole empty condo towers around here, none owned by Trump, that serve as capital-flight investments by such people.

Its really quite amusing.

buwaya said...

Maybe some of these empty properties are owned by Mexicans even.

buwaya said...

Oso Negro,

Nasty story, but thanks.

That is very low level drug industry, that is, that guy was working retail it seems, and it was a beat cop that was bought.

What we are talking about is in the hundreds of billions and State Houses and Federal elections. Buying the President of Mexico stuff.

Josephbleau said...

If they don’t put this stuff to a stop, the next thing you know Mexico will be as bad as Illinois.

David Begley said...

Can the FBI investigate Chuck and Nancy to see if they’ve been bribed by the Mexican drug cartels to stop the Wall? It makes perfect sense to me.

I mean the FBI investigated Trump as a Russian agent with less probable cause.

And while we’re at it, investigate Obama, Jarrett and Rhodes for bribes from Iran. Kerrey is already rich. And unAmericsn.

Big Mike said...

It’s in the Times. Does that mean it’s true?

Trumpit said...

You can bet your bottom dollar that President Peña Nieto took millions in bribes. Trade him for the Canadian man just sentenced to death in China for smuggling drugs. The Chinese will get a big fish for a little one.

Oso Negro said...

@Buwaya - the only difference between the beat cop and the President of Mexico is the price.

FullMoon said...

Even some Democrats are aware of this:


"All-cash" is a widely misunderstood and misused term as it relates to real estate transactions. When sellers are looking for an all-cash offer, they are looking for an offer that does not require financing from the seller, and that does not contain any contingency for financing from any other source.

Mary Beth said...

It's like "cake or death" but with $100 million instead of cake.

Drago said...

You can always count on The Poor Man's (He Who Shall Not Be Named) gadfly to bring the playground version of whatever weak tea dem talking points are wafting about that day.

LOL

Again, its astonishing that gadflys little blog never got off the ground.

Astonishing.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Carlos only owns %6 of the NYT, second largest shareholder (of record). 100 million is not so much compared to Arafat's take. BTW I'm old enough to remember regular CIA reports of enemy activities in central America. Seeing Hamas, ISIS and Al-Qaeda moving around down there, must be awash with loose cash. Heard anything bout that? Buehler? Buehler?

William said...

It's plausible that El Chapo is a liar and also plausible that he's telling the truth. Nieto, if he's an honest man, should make some effort to refute this allegation. Perhaps he could submit to having his finances investigated by an outside agency. This doesn't look good for the Mexican government. They have an interest in investigating this.......I'd feel a lot better about Mexicans if they used figures like El Chapo or Nieto for their piñatas instead of Trump.

traditionalguy said...

This could be a sting that seizes illegal Drug assets to be confiscated under Trump's 12/21/2017 Order. It will be enoughh to build three parallel walls.

narciso said...

There was an earlier piece about how el chapo had also hired Vicente foxs bodyguard as well.

Narayanan said...

Brazil has put two of their Presidents in prison.

bagoh20 said...

Buying real estate with cash is how people with money keep making money. If you put your cash in a bank to earn 1%, and then borrow it back from them at 6%, you are an idiot.

madAsHell said...

The SF Bay Area, Seattle and Vancouver would feel ... underbuilt, without thousands of Chinese/Asian/Russian cash-investors.

Vancouver has a huge Chinese absentee condo owner problem. Entire condo buildings remain dark at night, but they are over 90% occupied.

Seattle, and the Bay Area have an H1B problem. I don't see the absentee owner problem in the States.

narciso said...

And the UK has an Albanian mob problem, cue Bryan mills from taken

rcocean said...

$100 million dollar personal checks are hard to cash.

Especially from Drug Dealers.

Paul said...

I was no 'personal check' payoff. No doubt Narco-cash.. US greenbacks.. Big suitcases.. Swiss bank accounts (or even Cayman), gold.

madAsHell said...

This makes the Clintons look like pikers. They only got a half-million for all that uranium.

Paul said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
robother said...

100 million from this cartel, 50 million from that cartel, pretty soon, you're talking real money.

mockturtle said...

Buying real estate with cash is how people with money keep making money.

Exactly.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Rabel - good find.

TIME - lol.

narciso said...

HSBC was the premier laundry, guess who ran interference from them, btw they picked up the entrails of Arthur Anderson when weismann wray and freidrich were done with it. The fmr??Saudi al queda asset originally worked for them.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I wonder how much Nancy gets from the drug cartels?

Narayanan said...

This may turn out to be vote buying - giving out gift debit card during election.
El Chapo does it so Nieto don't have to.

Narayanan said...

Just like Trump buying lunch for Clemson is NCAA rules violation.
Impeach now.!

TomHynes said...

Think like a Bayesian.
Before this announcement, what was your probability estimate that the President of Mexico was taking bribes from drug kinkpins?
After the announcement?

I went from about 50% to about 60%. The witness has credibility issues.

Zach said...

Narco bribes are really only half bribes.

The saying is "plata o plomo" -- silver or lead. As in, take the bribe or you will be murdered, and the person who takes your place will be offered the same deal.

It's very tough to be an honest public servant in a narco state, even assuming you want to try.

David Begley said...

Rcocean

He was paid in diamonds.

narciso said...

It wasnt so surprising because there was evidence that Pena nieto had received sizable campaign contributions from the Sinaloa cartel, now 100 million that seems a high transaction fee. By that period though Guzman loera was the lesser evil compared to the zetas

narciso said...

That was from investigations from Brandon Darby mexican byline in breitbart.

glenn said...

buwaya at 4:26

“It makes one wonder just how much drug money makes it into US politics, directly or well-laundered.
In CA it certainly isn't negligible”

Nationally I’m guessing it’s 10% of the drug trade revenue. I’ve seen estimates of that revenue from 20 to 60 billion dollars.

Gary said...

Based on Trump's actions has Trump been blackmailed or bribed or both by the Kremlin and the Russian Kleptocrats?
How much would the bribe be?
Can it just be the decades of them money laundering by buying overpriced Trump properties for cash?

David Begley said...

Gary

Assuming arguendo that Trump is a Russia asset, then why is Brent at its current price? Russia is an oil state and it has to be hurting. Trump dumped the Green agenda and we are now exporting oil and LNG. Never would have happened if Hillary won.

Oso Negro said...

@ Buwaya - and here is another example - a "star" DEA agent.

https://apnews.com/7bbc49156a7e47e6a1f6b3a37946ee12

Yes, the money for higher level politicians must be enormous

Known Unknown said...

"Trump had a responsibility to thoroughly investigate the finances of all cash buyers? "

On Windy City Rehab just last night a guy bought a $1.26m condo with cash! Maybe he should be investigated.

Known Unknown said...

"Assuming arguendo that Trump is a Russia asset, then why is Brent at its current price? Russia is an oil state and it has to be hurting. Trump dumped the Green agenda and we are now exporting oil and LNG. Never would have happened if Hillary won."

Trump is pro-fracking too, which makes no sense for Putin.

F said...

The scale of the bribe that Peña Nieto allegedly took is what raises eyebrows, but the truth is, to a drug lord like el Chapo, $100 million is small change. The more important issue is that the Mexican President took the bribe in the first place, not how large it was.

PM said...

The Wall is for people; the tunnels are for drugs.™

LA_Bob said...

Oso Negro at 1/15/19 5:12 PM, responding to buwaya, said, "...America, 21st century."

That's the only thing wrong with your comment. Do you really think America was substantially corruption-free in prior centuries?