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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2006 
Mexico Subsidizes Suspected Trafficker
 Associated Press
A Mexican wanted on drug trafficking charges in the United States received more than $2,000 in government aid to subsidize his cattle business, according to the Mexican Agricultural Department's website.
The department gave Vicente Zambada Niebla some $2,200 in 2004 to breed 80 head of cattle in the Pacific coast ranching state of Sinaloa, according to a list of aid recipients posted on the Website.
The news was first reported by the Milenio newspaper on Friday. Responding to the report, Agriculture Secretary Alberto Cardenas acknowledged such cases "taint" the department and said that in the future, officials will cross-check the recipients of agricultural subsidies with the attorney general's office.
"We're going to be very careful to keep mistakes like these from happening again," Cardenas told W Radio.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration accuses Zambada Niebla of supervising cocaine shipments along Mexico's Pacific coast for the Sinaloa cartel as well as trafficking more than 11 pounds of the drug to the United States.
Officials at Mexico's Attorney General's Office could not immediately confirm if there were charges against Zambada in Mexico or if he was in hiding. |
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