Mexico City —
For decades, drug lords with names like “El Chapo” and “El Mencho” have been the poster boys of the US fight against Mexican drug trafficking. Now the Trump administration has adopted a new target: well-heeled politicians who allegedly accept dirty money to help the criminals.
The US Treasury recently accused cartels of “increasingly using (their) illicit profits to make cash payments to Mexican political campaigns.” Their goal, the statement said, was to elect candidates “willing to defend the cartels and their interests.”
It’s no secret that Mexican organized-crime groups pour money into electoral campaigns, especially at…