General Moisés García Ochoa was in line to become Mexico’s next defense minister, until the Obama administration said no way.

U.S. officials in the Drug Enforcement Administration told The New York Times that they suspected Ochoa was linked to drug traffickers, while those in the Department of Defense claimed the general misused military supplies and skimmed money from military contracts.

Those concerns were passed on to Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto by U.S. ambassador Anthony Wayne last month during the country’s presidential inauguration.

The negative assessment of Ochoa came as a surprise to some officials, given the general’s outspokenness about governmental corruption (which most politicians avoid discussing in Mexico).

Also, he had met secretly with U.S. intelligence officials in Texas and provided names of military and civilian officials he suspected of providing protection to drug traffickers.

Nevertheless, DEA and defense officials had compiled “a troubling portfolio of allegations against the general,” according to the newspaper, referring to him as “Mr. Ten Percent,” in honor of his handling of defense contracts.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Hand of U.S. Is Seen in Halting General’s Rise in Mexico (by Ginger Thompson, Randal C. Archibold and Eric Schmitt, New York Times)

U.S. General: Killing Mexican Drug Lords Doesn’t Really Reduce Crime or Violence (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Mexico Replaces All Customs Agents (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

White House Issues Anti-Drug Plan for Mexican Border (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

U.S. Anti-Drug Aid to Mexico: Pledged-$1.4 Billion; Spent-$7 Million (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)