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Former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto accepted a $100m bribe from drug cartel kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, a witness has testified. Alex Cifuentes, who says he was a close associate of Guzmán for years, told a New York City courtroom that he had told authorities of the bribe in 2016. Guzmán is accused of being behind the Sinaloa drug cartel, which prosecutors say was the largest US drug supplier. Mr Peña Nieto served as the president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018.
Recently sworn-in Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will sell the Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner which transported his predecessor in a deal that will generate a multimillion-dollar loss. Mexico is likely to get $76 million less than it paid. The sale is an attempt by the president to move Mexico away from excess.
Mexico’s government announced on Tuesday that Jared Kushner the son-in-law of President Trump will be bestowed with the country’s top honor for foreigners. Kushner will join the Order of the Aztec Eagle due to ‘his significant contributions’ to a new North American trade pact finalized in August. Kushner will receive the award on Thursday.
Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his government will cancel Mexico City’s $13.3 billion airport that is under construction, and instead build a terminal and two runways at a military base north of the capital. The decision followed a controversial four-day public consultation launched by López Obrador in which about 70% of the slightly more than one million people who voted opted for the alternative project.
President Trump announced on Monday that he alerted US military that the migrant caravan approaching from Mexico constituted a ‘national emergency,’ asserting that aid to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras will be cut off. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned of ‘potentially catastrophic’ Hurricane Wilma which is set to make landfall in Mexico on Tuesday.
Officials discovered the skulls of at least 166 people in a mass grave in Mexico’s eastern state of Veracruz. Veracruz has been used as a dumping ground for drug traffickers for many years. State prosecutor Jorge Winckler claims the discovered human remains, clothing items, and identity cards were there for at least two years.
At least 24 people were killed in explosions at pyrotechnics workshops in Tultepec, Mexico on Thursday. The explosions are the latest blasts in the town known for its fireworks production. Victims of the explosions included firefighters, police, and civilians. Mexico’s civil protection agency said the sale of fireworks in the area will be suspended.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected president on Mexico on Sunday, becoming the country’s first leftist leader in decades. Lopez Obrador claimed his victory, saying ‘profound change’ is coming and vowing to tackle the ‘evil’ of corruption, calling it the ‘result of a political regime in decay.’ Lopez Obrador formally takes power on December 1st.
The US ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, announced Thursday, that she will resign from her post in May, in another high-level official State Department departure. Jacobson, who took the post in 2016, is an experienced diplomat and Latin America, expert. Jacobson’s departure could lead to a further deterioration of relations between the US and Mexico.
Senior White House advisor and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Wednesday, amid tensions between the US and Mexico over the border wall and steel and aluminum tariffs. A potential meeting between the presidents depends on ‘the level of progress achieved’ on various issues, according to the Mexican government.