Mexico celebrates an ex-military official once arrested on drug smuggling charges in the US

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president has honored a former defense secretary whose high-profile arrest in the U.S. three years ago strained relations between the two countries. General Salvador Cienfuegos was charged with ties to a international drug trafficking network in October 2020. After he was returned to Mexico for investigation, all charges were dropped and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador accused the U.S. of fabricating its accusations against him. At a ceremony in the south of Mexico City on Wednesday, Cienfuegos was recognized by the Heroic Military academy for his years as its director.