General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, head of the Ministry of National Defense (Defensa, formerly Sedena), stated this Tuesday, during Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo’s morning press conference, that the institution he leads has no comment regarding the accusations made by the United States against retired general Gerardo Mérida, who served as Secretary of Public Security in Sinaloa and surrendered to U.S. authorities a few weeks ago after being linked to organized crime, specifically the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Trevilla Trejo indicated that this matter is being handled by the Attorney General’s Office and U.S. authorities. “General Mérida Sánchez retired in 2022 and since then has had no employment relationship with the Ministry of National Defense. The only relationship he might have is administrative, with the Social Security Institute for the Armed Forces (ISSFAM), regarding his salary and medical services for himself and his family. That’s all,” he stated.
When questioned about the fact that the interim Governor of Sinaloa, Yeraldine Bonilla Valverde, had at one point blamed the Ministry of Defense for his appointment, and the extent of the Ministry’s responsibility in such appointments, Trevilla said that was a misinterpretation.
He explained that the procedure is that state governments are autonomous, and at some point they can request support from the Ministry of National Defense, and that support consisted of recommending a general and providing an opinion.
He denied that the institution had any further information about Mérida’s situation in the United States.
