D.E.A. Drug EXPORT Administration?

Reforma reported this morning that two US Senators, Chuck Grassley (Republican) and Dick Durban (Democratic) have demanded information from the DEA regarding the DEA “investigative unit” closed down at the request (or…demand) of the Mexican government this last year.

Specifically, the Senators want to know the exact dates the unit was in operation, and the details of what led to its closure. They write:

Provide the number of reports of misconduct, broken down by crime category and including reports of waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, or corruption, received by the DEA associated with the above unit from the date it was opened to the date it was closed.

According to Grassley and Durban, there are “conflicting” stories about why the unit was closed. DEA “anonymous sources” are saying the closure “destroyed … bridges they we were building over several years”, while the Mexican government claims the unit was infiltrated by criminals.

Also mentioned is a DEA airplane that was taken out of the country after requests from the Toluca airport authorities. Allegedly the DEA needed the plane for their activities (unspecified)

Which raises a question not asked very often. What exactly was the DEA up to in Mexico. Presumably assisting Mexicans in the US sponsored “war on drugs” though… given the record of US government involvement (specifically CIA involvement) in narcotics shipments, and the drop in narcotics exports from Bolivia when that country threw out the DEA, let’s just say, “inquiring minds want to know”.