Knowledge of “Fast and Furious” Program Denied in Mexico

(Mexico City, NA 11 March) The attorney general of Mexico said yesterday that the government has no knowledge of an undercover operation conducted by the US government on Mexican soil. On Wednesday, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Ms. Napolitano, testified to the program before Congress. She said she had not authorized it, but it was an initiative of The Treasury Department. Dubbed “Fast and Furious,” the operation involved letting illegal weapons flow from the US into Mexico as a means of identifying smugglers and tracing drug activity. Evidently undercover operatives from the US were entering Mexico with the illegal weapons. Ms. Napolitano said that the Department of Justice had given legal approval to the program.

The Mexican government was unaware of the initiative and said that a formal request for information had been lodged with the US government. Unofficially, the US government does not know whom they can trust among officials in the Mexican government, as many are on the payroll of the drug gangs. This is especially true for those in law enforcement and border operations.