From Ioan Grillo's Articles on CrashOut
The Director of Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission, and former interior secretary responded to Crash Out's report on the declassified memorandum.
On Friday Sept. 27, 2024, Manuel Bartlett, Diaz released a letter in answer to a report on CrashOut from Wednesday, Sept. 25. I [Ioan Grillo] strongly believe in the right of reply and I am publishing here the full letter from Bartlett in English and Spanish, with a few further points from Crashout below.
The report Bartlett is responding to is, “Exclusive – U.S. Declassifies Document on Bartlett and Camarena Case,” by Juan Alberto Cedillo and Ieva Jusionyte, with additional reporting and writing by me, Ioan Grillo. You can read the full report here.
The document was released after two Freedom of Information requests by the authors and has a declassification date stamp of August 12 this year. Spanning six pages and heavily redacted, the memo is an update from the “Legat,” which in FBI speak refers to an international office of the bureau and also the “legal attaché,” who heads that office. It references interviews with “confidential sources abroad” or CSA’s including what appears to be another Mexican official.
On Friday Sept. 27, 2024, Manuel Bartlett, Diaz released a letter in answer to a report on CrashOut from Wednesday, Sept. 25. I [Ioan Grillo] strongly believe in the right of reply and I am publishing here the full letter from Bartlett in English and Spanish, with a few further points from Crashout below.
The report Bartlett is responding to is, “Exclusive – U.S. Declassifies Document on Bartlett and Camarena Case,” by Juan Alberto Cedillo and Ieva Jusionyte, with additional reporting and writing by me, Ioan Grillo. You can read the full report here.
The report is based on a 1986 message from the U.S. embassy in Mexico City to the director of the FBI that was declassified on August 12 following freedom of information requests by Jusionyte and Cedillo. The story by CrashOut and the document have been cited widely in Mexican media, which Bartlett mentions in his reply.
The document was released after two Freedom of Information requests by the authors and has a declassification date stamp of August 12 this year. Spanning six pages and heavily redacted, the memo is an update from the “Legat,” which in FBI speak refers to an international office of the bureau and also the “legal attaché,” who heads that office. It references interviews with “confidential sources abroad” or CSA’s including what appears to be another Mexican official.
“Legat, Mexico City strongly suspects that [redacted] narcotics protection activities…reached perhaps to the Secretary of the Interior (Gobernación) Manuel Bartlett Díaz. While this is merely strong suspicions because of indications of widespread corruption and extortion activities of [redacted] it is not difficult to conclude logically that these activities ultimately benefit top leaders in the Mexican government.”
The message has a further reference to the Mexican politician, reporting that “the CSA speculated that Bartlett...,” but the rest of that sentence has been redacted. It adds that an informant’s “life would be in certain jeopardy” for talking to U.S. agents.
Here is Bartlett's original letter first, with the translation into English below.
English Translation
Mexico City, September 27, 2024To the public opinion
On September 25, just three days before the change of Federal Administration, Ioan Grillo (journalist on drug trafficking, crime, etc.) published an article on his CrashOut website entitled: “U.S. Declassifies Document on Bartlett and Camarena Case”
The source of the article is a "declassified memorandum" (in the possession of the U.S. government for over 40 years, without any significance), which is made public at Grillo's request, but it lacks any informative content. Let's read it:
1. Begin the memo, "A Confidential Source Overseas [CSA] speculates that Bartlett... [crossed out, i.e. blank]."
2. "The Source's speculation was [checked, blank]."
3. "Legat, Mexico City [FBI office based in Mexico] has strong suspicions that [tested]'s protection of drug trafficking activities not only benefited him [we do not know who he is], but perhaps extended to Secretary of the Interior Manuel Bartlett. While these are merely strong suspicions due to the indications of widespread corruption and extortion activities by [tested], it is not difficult to logically conclude that these activities ultimately benefited high-ranking Mexican government leaders [there is no such logic, because it is not proven how these activities benefited high-ranking officials]."
This is Grillo's "revelation": speculation, suspicion, and "maybe." Nothing can be concluded, because he says nothing. There are no statements from the FBI or the DEA, everything comes from a Mexican source, who does not affirm, only speculates, and we do not even know what he is speculating about.
In the absence of content, the rest of the article is covered with rehashes of Proceso attacks from several years ago and statements on social networks by "opposition deputies." All denied and clarified, for 40 years, even by two U.S. Ambassadors.
However, Grillo's article is taken as a solid source - despite not saying anything - and in a hilarious defamation campaign we find on the front page of Reforma: "Suspicion of Bartlett reactivated in Camarena case"; El Economista writes: "U.S. suspects Bartlett in Kiki Camarena case"; El Sol de Mexico: "U.S. suspected Bartlett's ties to drug traffickers"; Basta: Reopen file on Camarena case" and with similar scope in another 6 newspapers and two front pages (Reforma, El Sol de Mexico). None of this is inferred from the memorandum.
Any astute reader would notice that there is not the slightest news in Grillo's article, but the national press continues to choose to deliberately lie to public opinion. A vulgar campaign that places the media in the sad role they have had in recent years: vile defamers.
End
In the absence of content, the rest of the article is covered with rehashes of Proceso attacks from several years ago and statements on social networks by "opposition deputies." All denied and clarified, for 40 years, even by two U.S. Ambassadors.
However, Grillo's article is taken as a solid source - despite not saying anything - and in a hilarious defamation campaign we find on the front page of Reforma: "Suspicion of Bartlett reactivated in Camarena case"; El Economista writes: "U.S. suspects Bartlett in Kiki Camarena case"; El Sol de Mexico: "U.S. suspected Bartlett's ties to drug traffickers"; Basta: Reopen file on Camarena case" and with similar scope in another 6 newspapers and two front pages (Reforma, El Sol de Mexico). None of this is inferred from the memorandum.
Any astute reader would notice that there is not the slightest news in Grillo's article, but the national press continues to choose to deliberately lie to public opinion. A vulgar campaign that places the media in the sad role they have had in recent years: vile defamers.
End
Background Info
Bartlett has never been prosecuted in Mexico or the United States for working with drug traffickers. However, there have been allegations of him conspiring with gangsters in the Camarena case, including in a report in Mexico’s Proceso magazine in 2021, which said he would be detained for interrogation if he traveled to the United States. A Mexican opposition federal deputy went on to claim Bartlett was the “pez gordo” or “fat fish” behind the Camarena killing.
Former police officers from Jalisco state who are in the United States as witnesses on the case have also accused Bartlett. However, while their statements went into a DEA probe run by agent Hector Berrellez, who took over the investigation in 1989, the declassified memo shows there were suspicions aired by U.S. investigators several years earlier.
Bartlett has denied any involvement in the Camarena killing. In 2021, he described the accusation as “a lie, a fallacy.”
Much of the memo seems to rely on a key source that appears could be a Mexican official of some rank.
Former police officers from Jalisco state who are in the United States as witnesses on the case have also accused Bartlett. However, while their statements went into a DEA probe run by agent Hector Berrellez, who took over the investigation in 1989, the declassified memo shows there were suspicions aired by U.S. investigators several years earlier.
Bartlett has denied any involvement in the Camarena killing. In 2021, he described the accusation as “a lie, a fallacy.”
Much of the memo seems to rely on a key source that appears could be a Mexican official of some rank.
Notes from Ioan Grillo
It is good to get a statement from Bartlett on this issue and I think the report still stands firm. I would like to add a few more points on the story and Bartlett’s response.
The memorandum is an official document from the United States government. It is the choice of the U.S. government to declassify this document and there is a clear public interest in seeing this information about a landmark investigation into the murder of a DEA agent in Mexico that profoundly affected bilateral relations.
The memorandum is an official document from the United States government. It is the choice of the U.S. government to declassify this document and there is a clear public interest in seeing this information about a landmark investigation into the murder of a DEA agent in Mexico that profoundly affected bilateral relations.
- The article reproduces and analyses the content of the memorandum accurately. It states that Bartlett has never been prosecuted for drug trafficking and that the memorandum talks about suspicions.
- The memorandum is based on information from various CSA’s or “confidential sources abroad.” However, the report, in the voice of the Legat, or FBI office, also directly supports the suspicions.
- After a request process spanning two years, the U.S. government chose to declassify the document in August this year. CrashOut did not choose this time of publishing with any political motive.
This poses the question of if Bartlett has ever travelled to the US since the Kiki murder. And if he hasn’t, then why not travel to the US?
ReplyDeleteCause they'll arrest him
DeleteOne word:
ReplyDeleteSherfam
🍁🚬🏮🚨
Sherman died in 2017 along with his wife, Honey, and the family's holding company, “Sherfam,” once included Apotex
In 2022, Apotex was sold to SK Capital Partners LP, a New York-based private equity firm, for an undisclosed amount
Apotex Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc.
Operates in more than 45 countries, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, and India.
I do still believe that the American government got Kiki killed. There’s just something sketchy about this case.
ReplyDeleteKiki got in over his head at the so-called Buffalo plantation of RCQ and CIA. He wouldn’t back down and was going to initiate a raid, and that ultimately led to his death.
DeleteNah he underestimated those drug traffickers, and prob felt safe because he was a u.s. agent or whatever .... And cause of the amount of.corruption there was that was in Mexico and some us involvement that was the proverbial nail in the coffin ... They killed him and they railroaded him
DeleteI hate to break it to you, but that’s not accurate. I was actually living in Mexico about six months out of the year at that time. Bouncing in between New Mexico, southern Colorado, and mostly Texas. Let me be perfectly clear. I was not some big-time narcotics trafficker who moved major weight. However, I did move 500 to 1000 couple of times even a little more than that. And let me reiterate something else I was not the only one doing this— if you ever did any time in the 70s or 80s early 80s. Then you knew how to go down to Mexico and score some really good mota for next to nothing. We did it 1 million different ways but basically it was small aircraft from Mexico into the US somewhere around but not in big bend national park. As long as you were not stupid stayed low-key and didn’t draw attention to yourself. You didn’t have problems. I had the good fortune of meeting a major trafficker in both Chihuahua city, and Ojinaga. What he told me and I am absolutely 100% certain it’s true. Is that the DEA approved of the plantation and was getting a cut, the CIA was getting a major cut and RCQ and the rest of his buddies were taking the rest.
DeleteEd Heath was the Director of Operations of the DEA in Mexico during the 1980s. He represented the DEA in Mexico since 1976 and was wounded in one of the five gun battles he took part in against the drug traffickers, and lose his brother to the drug traffickers.
Field agents like Enrique Camarena Salazar and James Kuykendall despised supervisor Heath for his bureaucratic methods. He was reluctant to support Camarena's investigation of the Guadalajara cartel, as the cartel's monopoly led to decreased drug-related violence and increased seizures. He also had no interest in fighting the Mexican government agencies' corruption and felt the DEA should not disrupt both countries' good relations.
His failure to act following Camarena's abduction resulted in the latter's death at the hands of the Guadalajara cartel.
However, DEA agent Kiki Camarena conducted his own investigations into the growing Guadalajara Cartel and discovered a massive 2,500-acre marijuana plantation in Chihuahua, "Rancho Bufalo", which was run by Rafael Caro Quintero with the consent of the DFS; DEA, and CIA during his undercover visit to the ranch, he spotted DFS commander Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno supervising the operation. The ranch had barracks for 7,000 workers, state-of-the-art irrigation systems, a mess hall, warehouses for processing and storage, and vast swathes of marijuana fields.
You can read the rest of the story here:
https://historica.fandom.com/wiki/Rancho_Bufalo_raid
According to my jefe, they actually destroyed all the cannabis and all the equipment at the Buffalo Ranch. And back in those days that’s not what happened you got a big bus for PR say and photo ops and then they burned the fan leaves and the stems and the buds went on up to the US. Apparently this is one of the things that pissed off our CQ the worst, and though they weren’t growing on every single acre they had I was told they had roughly 2000 acres in cultivation and greenhouses. I had a friend once who asked me if I had ever been there, and I said f no. That’s one of those things you don’t want to see. Because people who see it end up dead. Just ask Kiki.
Maybe he was the C.I.A. asset, that's why never charged/arrested. CIA needed some cooperation from Mex politicians to work with cartels for Iran/Contra operation.
ReplyDeleteLos Mayos dropped flyers with Chapiza high ranking members in Sinaloa
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/cYd-Hmrpbxo?si=lz4gwAkVGhLeC1Zz
😎
Markitos toys is in the flyers
Delete🤦🏻♂️guys gone get over it already
ReplyDeleteWhat are you trying to say?
Delete🤓
Why u typing like dat n sheit?
DeleteSenores, aqui estamas esperando ordenes del jefe Sicario 006 entrenado por Mossad y tambien Shin Bet en Palestina 👍👊
ReplyDeleteSic006 was trained by Unit 8200 in Israel.
DeleteThat's Koo foo
DeleteThe badest motherfucker alive
DeleteUnit 8200 was the one responsible for the security lapses that resulted in the attack by Hamas, which killed many. Israelis and many were taken hostage and are still being held hostage. So sounds like he got some really fucked up training.
DeleteAgain, I will reiterate that you cannot be trained by the IDF unless you are Jewish and I’ve seen pictures of fat ass 006 he is not Jewish.
8:56 the worst of no periods.
DeleteIf you have been following the news in Texas, do you know that they were murder trials against former DEA officials and Houston police officers. They were all convicted see the link below.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/gerald-goines-hpd-harding-street-raid-19747692.php
Also 2 DEA agents in New York where are convicted of multiple charges, including conspiracy
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-high-ranking-dea-special-agent-and-current-dea-agent-convicted-bribery-scheme#:~:text=Damian%20Williams%2C%20the%20United%20States,conspiracy%20to%20bribe%20a%20public
You should all try googling police corruption in law enforcement, corruption, arrest and see the litany of police misconduct; it literally blew me away since right around 2000 or so hiring has been literally done by the seat of most departments pants and they’ve expanded massively a lot of the expansion was due to funds that were misappropriated from completely legitimate citizens, though I acknowledge very many of the people who suffered confiscations of drug profits that’s just the way it goes in the game.
Are you seriously trying to compare Mexican law enforcement corruption to USA pig corruption. Pride get in the way much?
DeleteAwww no manchez,,,,,
ReplyDelete👍
ReplyDeleteRAFA CARO IS KING!!!!!
ReplyDeleteConnor you going to do RUBIO?
DeleteConnor todavia ESTA mencho en redwood City?
DeleteLOS CHAPOS LES DEJARON 12 MUERTOS A LOS MAYOS ENCAJULADOS EN CULIACÁN..
ReplyDeleteCON LA LEYENDA "BIENVENIDOS A CULIACÁN"...
🫡🍕🏔🍊
5️⃣❌️1️⃣
5x1= 5
DeleteNo le saqué viejo culon
ReplyDeleteUna van llena de cuerpos en Culiacán con mensaje de bienvenidos a Culiacán
ReplyDeleteEsta guerra esta manchando mi bello estado los Sinaloenses somos gente trabajadora y bien a toda madre
Y las viejas son puro plastico 🤣
DeleteWhen I went to mazatlan nothing but big booties
DeleteY bien putas tambien
DeleteGringos and lambiscones malincheros wanna sweep fast and furious under the rug talking bout get over it, that's old news, but wanna hang on to the Kiki Camarena case like it's the Alamo. Bola de hipocritas.
ReplyDeleteAllegedly Los Flechas are winning against Gabito in la Concordia region
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/VtIekFGrvLo?si=a6Lz2jXg4G1-un4u
😎
Mel Brooks is King
ReplyDeleteMexican politicians are not corrupt nor would they bow down to cartel activity
ReplyDeleteCia killed camarena period
ReplyDeleteNot PERIOD, you the shrimp that forgets periods.
DeleteKiki was killed because he didn't accept any money and all those involved in his murder didn't know this. It's why his name is celebrated today. He was just doing his job in Guadalajara because the US military sent him down there for no other reason than that he knew Spanish. In the belief that he was among his own and that good he was doing for people like him he never thought he'd get tortured to death. But as we all know now la levantada de un innocente llega tambien muerte en caliente. Jo ja no la espero la trigo ah mi lado. Aqui se cuaja Dios y Muerte con jo. Ni modo. Es lo que meh toco. Pura suerte que no?! Vujeros de aigre y tierra en immediata mente. Es en lo que meh naci.
ReplyDeletePocho Gran es mi nombre.