In blow to US, Mexico passes new law curbing activities of foreign agents

The legislation was passed by a vote of 329 to 98 in the lower house of the Mexican congress on Tuesday. The law strips foreign agents of diplomatic immunity and requires them to share any intelligence they have obtained with Mexican authorities. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's ruling Morena Party proposed the draft legislation in the wake of the October arrest in the US of Mexico's former defense minister on drug trafficking and corruption charges. The party did not mention the US in the draft proposal, but the president has lately been highly critical of Washington over the arrest of General Salvador Cienfuegos. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Washington had violated a 1992 pact that all investigations related to the Latin American nation must be shared with Mexican authorities. The US later dropped charges against Cienfuegos, allowing him to return to his home country. Under the new law, Mexico's local, state, and federal officials have to report to the federal government every telephone call, meeting, or communication with a foreign agent within three days of its occurrence. Mexican lawmaker Dolores Padierna said, "There cannot be foreign agents in Mexico arresting people or committing crimes." US Attorney General William Barr reacted to the legislation on Friday, saying that Washington was worried the law would imperil future security cooperation between the two countries. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is active in Mexico in the so-called war on drugs. It has at least 50 agents in the country, according to Mexican officials. The former chief of DEA's international operations, Mike Vigil, said the new law would "diminish" the agents' role in Mexico. US agents have a long history in Latin American countries. In Venezuela, the late leader Hugo Chávez expelled DEA agents in 2005. Bolivian President Evo Morales also expelled them along with the US ambassador in 2008. Source: Press TV