
Mexicoâs President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum (left) and Omar GarcĂa Harfuch (right). Photo: Facebook/@OGHarfuch/file photo.
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Mexicoâs President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum (left) and Omar GarcĂa Harfuch (right). Photo: Facebook/@OGHarfuch/file photo.
By Francisco DomĂnguez – Jul 5, 2024
Using Mexican president-elect Claudia Sheinbaumâs decision to include Omar GarcĂa Harfuch in her cabinet, NACLA [North American Congress on Latin America] contributor Suhail Gharaibeh penned a character assassination piece against GarcĂa Harfuch (29 June 2024), barely three weeks after Claudiaâs victory on June 2. A substantial part of the “character assassination” includes a torrent of innuendoes, guilt by association, and plenty of other tricky ambiguities aimed at allegedly âdemonstratingâ the long-term connection, if not association, between AMLO and narco-traffickers since at least 2006.
This is Gharaibehâs piece’s actual objective and the âcharacter assassination of GarcĂa Harfuchâ is the means to do it. This narrative thoroughly echoes Mexicoâs right-wing opposition and the world corporate media, which tried to pin the label of ânarco-presidentâ on AMLO and Claudia. It was surprising and disappointing to read this in a âprogressiveâ journal.
Hatchet job on GarcĂa Harfuch
Through subterfuge Gharaibeh (unsuccessfully) seeks to demonstrate, among other things, that GarcĂa Harfuch “participated” in the forced disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students in 2014; of being under the command of corrupt police officers (Genaro GarcĂa Luna, RamĂłn Pequeño, Luis Cardenas Palomino and others, who participated in drug-trafficking operations of the Sinaloa cartel, all of whom are either fugitives, awaiting trial, or in prison); of being named coordinator of the state of Guerreroâs Federal Police in 2013, at a time when according to the DEA, large amounts of cocaine, heroin and cash were smuggled into the US (when Mexicoâs president was Enrique Peña Nieto, any inference on this Mr Gharaibeh?); that the Guerrero command of the Federal Police was a key player in the abduction and disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students. And then, for good measure, Gharaibeh cites Anabel HernĂĄndez â a âjournalistâ (1) intensely hostile to the Fourth Transformation, to LĂłpez Obrador and to Claudia Sheinbaum â on alleged, but unproven, corrupt connections between AMLO and the Sinaloa cartel. He also quotes HernĂĄndezâs allegation that between 2014 and 2016 â the period when GarcĂa Harfuch replaced TomĂĄs ZerĂłn de Lucio for criminally attempting to cover up the Ayotzinapa massacre â that GarcĂa Harfuch âreceived hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the [Sinaloa] cartel,â as âconfirmedâ to her by anonymous DEA agents.(2)
Violating the most basic principles of journalism (3), Gharaibeh, without any irrefutable evidence or proof of any kind whatsoever nonchalantly asserts âa decade ago, [GarcĂa Harfuch] participated in the most infamous state crime in recent history (Ayotzinapa)â. Yet, in the titleâs subheading of his own NACLA piece, Gharaibeh affirms that GarcĂa Harfuch âis believed to have participated in the forced disappearanceâ of the 43 students. The distance between the two statements is big, which, without any serious and verifiable evidence, makes the second statement malicious, but the first, defamatory.
Then, Gharaibeh tries guilt by association. Under the subheading GarcĂa Harfuch and the New Dirty War, he mentions that GarcĂa Harfuchâs father and grandfather had been top security officials during 1977-1978 and 1988-1991 and October 1968 (the latter, during the Tlatelolco massacre), respectively. In 1968 GarcĂa Harfuch had not yet been born (he was born in 1982) and in 1991, he was 9 years old. Gharaibehâs intent is clear.
Next, Gharaibeh proceeds to highlight the cover up of the Ayotzinapa massacre â the verdad histĂłrica â and cites three reports by the IACHRâs Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) that involved the Federal Police, which figures abundantly in the reports, but Omar GarcĂa Harfuch is never mentioned in any of them.(4) The work of GIEIÂ began in March 2015 (is the GIEI also part of the cover up plot?)
Its last report was issued in February 2022, that is, 6 years after GarcĂa Harfuch replaced ZerĂłn de Lucio (who was charged but is hiding in Israel), yet Gharaibeh, in typical style, affirms that the vast cover up operation âwas concocted precisely to protect officials like GarcĂa Harfuch.â Worse still, though he puts a link (in Spanish) to the Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa, he fails to inform the reader that this Commission demonstrated the cover up but he also fails to inform (in English) that it was established by decree by president LĂłpez Obrador in December 2018 (5), and whose findings led to a host of arrests and indictments, even though the case has not yet been completely resolved.
Claudia Sheinbaumâs Election in Mexico Shows How the Left Can Win
The real target is AMLO
The real target of Gharaibehâs piece is AMLO. When Gharaibeh repeats the charges that GarcĂa Harfuch may have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel, he cites as his source Anabel HernĂĄndezâs new book La Historia Secreta: AMLO y el Cartel de Sinaloa (The Secret History: AMLO and the Sinaloa Cartel, 2024) that, “by chance,” was published two months before the beginning of the electoral campaign that elected Claudia Sheinbaum as president. President AMLO denounced the false allegations of the book, referring to HernĂĄndez as the âQueen of Fictionâ because of the raft of allegations without any proof whatsoever and demanded she make the proofs public (6). HernĂĄndez has failed to do this.
So, once Gharaibeh thinks he has succeeded in demonizing GarcĂa Harfuch, he moves to the real target, the 4T government. The opening line for this stage of the article is revealing: âGarcĂa Harfuch not only remained shielded from accountability, but acquired more and more power.â Yes, GarcĂa Harfuch became Secretary of Citizen Security of Mexico City under Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum from 2019 to 2023 and he joined MORENA in 2019. Iâm not sure why Gharaibeh implies that this proves anything at all.
Even the ambush by 50 hitmen against GarcĂa Harfuch in June 2020 â in which two of his bodyguards and a woman passerby were killed with assault rifles that destroyed his armored car and he himself received three bullet wounds (out of 414 gunshots) â is used by Gharaibeh against him. He takes a quote from a newspaper that describes GarcĂa Harfuch as a âclever and eager guyâ (is this equivalent to being corrupt? Does it prove anything?). But if you read the full article, youâll realize it is a rather positive depiction of an officer risking his life fighting organized crime in Mexico. Referring to his heavy daily schedule, GarcĂa Harfuch told El PaĂs journalist Jacobo GarcĂa, âThis is not a police officer cowering or taking refuge in his office. We are more active and more motivated than ever to reduce crime.â (7)Â
In a BBC article (27 June 2020) about the attempt on GarcĂa Harfuchâs life, Manelich Castilla Craviotto, former general commissioner of the Federal Police of Mexico (2016-2018), referred to GarcĂa Harfuch as âone of the most valuable assets the Mexican state has to confront the cancer of organized crime.â The BBC report suggests that there is no doubt it was the blows GarcĂa Harfuch has dealt to organized crime throughout his career that were crucial to his becoming their target.(8)
Mr Gharaibeh is not even satisfied with âa glowing review of Sheinbaumâs policies on organized crime in Mexico City and her potential to âreplicate her success on a national scaleâ as presidentâ in the Wall Street Journal.(9) He criticizes the WSJ for not mentioning an attack by a rogue police command on the HQ of a narco-linked investment firm in a neighborhood of Mexico City where it âplanted weapons and fake drugs, disabled security cameras, and stole more than 70 million pesos in cash.â The innuendo is in the phrase âagents under GarcĂa Harfuchâs commandâ which is grossly misleading since it deliberately gives the impression that the command that criminally attacked the firm did it under his direct orders, which is thoroughly false. All police agents in Mexico City were technically and hierarchically under GarcĂa Harfuchâs command. However, when it comes to producing fake information on AMLO and the 4T, he is a âclever and eager guy.â That brings us to the crux of the matter of Gharaibehâs piece.
In the final section, Gharaibeh comes up with the real goods: âLĂłpez Obrador has a strange relationship to the narco-state regime he supposedly set out to transform. Evidence uncovered by the DEA suggests that the Sinaloa Cartel funneled $2 million into [his] first presidential campaign in 2006.â This section Gharaibeh titles âThe Paradoxical Fourth Transformation.â What exactly is âparadoxical?â Well, on justice for the Ayotzinapa case, Gharaibehâs false contention is that AMLO âhas systematically destroyed its own institutional efforts to pursue justice.âÂ
Furthermore, Gharaibeh goes on to show another paradox, namely, that after being elected in 2018 on promises to transform a Mexican society lacerated by the drug war, AMLO has traveled to Badiraguato, allegedly the birthplace of Mexicoâs drug trade, six times and that he even once shook hands with El Chapoâs elderly mother. Is this a smoking gun Gharaibeh wishes to exhibit as the proof of AMLOâs connection with narco-traffickers? Or is it consistent with AMLOâs approach to fight organized crime?Â
The president and Claudia Sheinbaum have repeatedly clarified that “hugs, not bulletsâ has never been about hugging the delinquents â the narrative of Mexicoâs opposition and the world corporate media â but it rather seeks to address the causes of criminal insecurity in Mexico. Claudia has explained that it is about providing positive opportunities for youth so they do not join organized crime. Mr. Gharaibeh is fully aware of the repeated clarifications by both AMLO and Claudia about the policy which he might disagree with but instead, his âjournalisticâ approach leads him to ignore it.
Outrageously, against all that has been happening in Mexico ever since AMLO was elected president in 2018, Gharaibeh throws his most poisonous barb: âit may now seem to the parents of the Ayotzinapa victims that Mexicoâs Fourth Transformation has been a full revolution, a 360-degree turn, in which their country has ended where it started: with their sonsâ killers in power.âÂ
Does Gharaibeh really mean this? The charge is simply preposterous. Did the 4T government led by AMLO concoct a cunning plan to win the presidency, in order to ensure that those guilty of the assassination of the 43 Ayotzinapa students could come back to power!? This not only exposes the acrobatics of Gharaibehâs twisted journalism but also shows how mendacious and false it is.
The Ayotzinapa case is complex and difficult. Nevertheless, the work of the Truth Commission and the GIEI found many of the culprits. Through their work, 112 individuals have been imprisoned, among whom 18 are from the Guerreros Unidos cartel, 14 were members of the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), and others were members of the military, including two generals, one ex-commander of the 27th Infantry Battalion, one captain, two sergeants, one lieutenant, one sub lieutenant, three corporals, 10 soldiers, and a member of Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR). The actions include the request of extradition of TomĂĄs ZerĂłn de Lucio, plus the imprisonment of the former secretary of Public Security in Guerrero, the former municipal president of Iguala, plus 74 municipal police officers (8 from Cocula, 7 from Huitzuco, and 41 from Iguala, and 18 more at the state, federal and ministerial levels.(10) Has all of this been concocted by AMLO to put the killers of the Ayotzinapa students back in power? Come on Mr. Gharaibeh!
Gharaibeh ends his hack job with a bigger innuendo and a bigger lie by quoting this: âIf theyâre going through this much effort to boldly lie about [GarcĂa Harfuch] even being [in Ayotzinapa], then itâs probably because his participation is of utmost value for them to conceal.â Where is the evidence of this? Gharaibeh provides zero evidence. What is of “utmost value” to be concealed by the 4T government? The torrent of innuendos in Gharaibehâs piece leads only to one conclusion: the government seeks to conceal the connections with the Sinaloa cartel. So, let’s see how much validity Mr. Gharaibehâs innuendos on this issue contain.
From the government official information on Operations Against Narco-Trafficking, we get the following figures when we compare the period going from December 1, 2012 to November 30, 2018 to the period December 1, 2018 to March 31, 2024. It clearly shows an intensification of the success against narco-trafficking in all key categories (the exception being marijuana because it was basically legalized in 2021). Seizures of cocaine in the latter period (when AMLO was president) increased 250%, methamphetamine by 20% (the most important drugs given the size of the seizures), the amount of dollars seized by 180%, the amount of Mexican pesos by 50%, the amount of clandestine laboratories by over 310%, and the number of people arrested by nearly 15%. So, let’s get this right, is this successful combat against narco trafficking also part of the cunning plan by AMLO to conceal something of “utmost value,” Mr. Gharaibeh?Â
Operations against narco trafficking | 01/12/212 to 30/11/2018 | 01/12/2018 to 31/03/2024 |
Marihuana kg | 3,939,480 | 562,640 |
Cocaine kg | 22,291 | 55,054 |
Heroin kg | 2,009 | 1,246 |
Methamphetamine kg | 117,117 | 137,022 |
US dollars | 66,574,565 | 123,820,896 |
Mexican Pesos | 192,598,937 | 287,653,350 |
Laboratories | 678 | 2.153 |
People arrested | 39,756 | 45,268 |
Source: Gobierno de México, 30 June 2024, https://www.gob.mx/sedena/acciones-y-programas/operaciones-contra-el-narcotrafico-6963 |
Conclusions
Mr. Gharaibehâs article is a hack job using innuendos, trickery, deliberate omissions, blatant distortions, misrepresentations and lies, rather than facts. His piece has four sections none of which confirm, demonstrate, or prove his narrative aimed at tarring AMLO and the 4T government with the brush of narco trafficking. Thus, there is no such a thing as the “rebirth” of Omar GarcĂa Harfuch; nor is there proof that he was involved in the dirty war any time (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s or later). There has not been any cover up on the part of AMLO or the 4T government; GarcĂa Harfuch did rise through the ranks but there was nothing troubling about it. The so-called “paradoxical transformation” of the 4T into an outfit cunningly planning to put in power those responsible for murdering the 43 Ayotzinapa students is an outlandish allegation.
Please NACLA, publish the work of true investigative reporters rather than engaging in yellow journalism that promotes right-wing conspiracy theories.
Writer note: The author wrote this for the UK Mexico Solidarity Forum and the US Mexico Solidarity Project, but he alone is responsible for its contents.
Notes:
(1) In piece in DW (âThe turbulent âvictoryâ of Claudia Sheinbaum,â https://www.dw.com/es/el-turbulento-triunfo-de-claudia-sheinbaum/a-69353564), HernĂĄndez alleges â[I]f narco-trafficking influenced in the 2021 and 2024 elections, what would happen in 2025?â; HernĂĄndez uses the typical machista trope against women leaders, âClaudia the eternal, pupil, AMLO, the master.â
(2) It is interesting that in another piece about the Ayotzinapa case (Sept 2022), Gharaibeh does not mention GarcĂa Harfuch at all but where it is correctly stated that the Truth Commission convened by president AMLO published a report that found that the enforced disappearance of the Ayotzinapa 43 constituted a âcrime of state,â and also that foreign minister Ebrard on behalf of the government was seeking to extradite ZerĂłn de Lucio, https://nacla.org/israel-cybersurveillance-mexico-case-ayotzinapa-43Â
(3) Editorâs Code of Practice, IPSO, esp. Clause 1, https://www.ipso.co.uk/editors-code-of-practice/Â
(4) The first report has 525 pages, the second 605 pages, and the summary 40 pages
(5) Al Jazeera, Mexicoâs new president forms truth commission on missing students, 4 December 2018, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/4/mexicos-new-president-forms-truth-commission-on-missing-studentsÂ
(6) CĂ©sar JimĂ©nez, AMLO dice que Anabel HernĂĄndez es âLa reina de la FicciĂłnâ; pide pruebe los nexos con CĂĄrtel de Sinaloa: âSi las presenta me destruyeâ, Infobae, 23 May 2024, https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2024/05/23/amlo-dice-que-anabel-hernandez-es-la-reina-de-la-ficcion-pide-pruebe-los-nexos-con-cartel-de-sinaloa-si-las-presenta-me-destruye/Â
(7) Jacobo GarcĂa, Omar GarcĂa Harfuch, the Mexican police chief who survived being shot at 414 times, El PaĂs, 21 June 2021, https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-06-21/omar-garcia-harfuch-the-mexican-police-chief-who-survived-being-shot-at-414-times.html#?rel=listaapoyoÂ
(8) Marcos GonzĂĄlez DĂaz, QuiĂ©n es Omar GarcĂa Harfuch y por quĂ© fue objetivo de un atentado de violencia sin precedentes en Ciudad de MĂ©xico, BBC Mundo, 26 June 2020, https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-53198159 (Castilla is not mentioned in the GIEI reports either)
(9) JosĂ© de CĂłrdoba, Santiago PĂ©rez and Steve Fisher, Wall Street Journal, 7 June 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/mexico-claudia-sheinbaum-organized-crime-us-assistance-a8e9d15cÂ
(10) Press Release, ComisiĂłn Ayotzinapa ratifica el compromiso del presidente AMLO de resolver el tema como asunto de Estado, Government of Mexico, 27 July 2023, https://www.gob.mx/segob/prensa/comision-ayotzinapa-ratifica-el-compromiso-del-presidente-amlo-de-resolver-el-tema-como-asunto-de-estado-340783Â
Special for Orinoco Tribune by Francisco Dominguez
FD/OT
Francisco Dominguez, a former refugee from Chile in the UK, is Head of the Centre for Brazilian and Latin American Studies at Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom.