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Did obama give money to cartels
Executive summary
Claims that “Obama gave money to cartels” are not supported by the documents in the provided search results. Reporting and government actions in the Obama years show the administration pursued sanctions, cooperation and law‑enforcement actions against cartels and also confronted a controversial ATF operation in which guns flowed toward Mexican traffickers; none of the supplied sources say President Obama personally gave money to cartels (see OFAC asset freezes and Merida Initiative funding) [1] [2] [3].
1. What the phrase “gave money to cartels” usually means in public debate
Accusations that a U.S. president “gave money to cartels” typically fall into two categories: direct transfer of funds to criminal groups, or government programs/policy failures that indirectly benefited organized crime. The documents provided show the Obama administration used tools to squeeze cartel finances (sanctions, asset freezes) and provided security assistance to Mexico (the Merida Initiative), which is the opposite of overtly funding criminal syndicates [1] [2] [4].
2. Actions showing the Obama administration targeted cartel assets and networks
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control under Obama moved to freeze property and interests of associates of Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán under the Kingpin Act, reflecting active U.S. efforts to deny cartels access to assets inside the U.S. and to “go after the Sinaloa Cartel’s holdings and support structure” [1]. Those actions are presented in the sources as enforcement against cartels, not as transfers of funds to them [1].
3. Security aid and cooperation with Mexico: support for Mexican state responses, not cartels
Obama publicly pledged U.S. help in fighting Mexican cartels and worked to accelerate release of a roughly $1.4 billion security package negotiated under the Merida Initiative—assistance framed as strengthening Mexico’s capacity to counter cartels, not enriching them [2] [4]. The Nation’s reporting notes the Bush and Obama administrations provided nearly $2 billion in Merida‑era support overall [4].
4. The “Fast and Furious” gun‑walking controversy explains some of the confusion
Political opponents and fact‑checkers tied Obama to the ATF’s botched “Fast and Furious” operation, in which agents allowed guns to be trafficked toward Mexico as part of a sting; critics said this helped cartels obtain weapons. PolitiFact and other reporting place the operation within the Department of Justice and ATF during Obama’s presidency but treat it as a failed law‑enforcement tactic, not a deliberate presidential program to fund cartels [5] [3]. Wikipedia’s summary of the scandal documents weapons tied to the operation turning up at violent scenes, highlighting operational failures and later indictments [3].
5. Allegations of illicit campaign donations are different from state transfers
One result recounts a criminal case—Pras Michel’s conviction connected to channeling money from 1MDB into an Obama campaign—where funds were alleged to be laundered into U.S. politics, not transferred by the Obama Administration to cartels [6]. That reporting illustrates illicit money flows into campaigns but does not support the claim that Obama as president gave money to cartels [6].
6. Conspiracy and partisan claims in the provided sample should be treated cautiously
Some sources in the set are clearly conspiratorial or partisan (e.g., Before It’s News alleging treasonous acts) and are not corroborated by mainstream reporting in these results; those items claim extreme actions without supporting evidence in the rest of the file and should not be taken as authoritative [7]. The House Oversight release cited expresses partisan criticism of Obama’s border policies—political rhetoric that differs from verified enforcement actions [8].
7. What the provided sources do not mention
Available sources do not mention any documented instance of President Obama or his administration directly sending U.S. government funds to Mexican or other drug cartels as policy. The supplied materials instead show enforcement, sanctions, aid to Mexican authorities, and an ATF investigation that became a scandal—none describe intentional government funding of criminal organizations [1] [2] [3].
8. Competing perspectives and lingering uncertainties
Government critics point to Fast and Furious to argue Obama‑era policies indirectly empowered cartels; supporters point to asset freezes, prosecutions and security assistance as evidence the administration acted against cartels [3] [1] [2]. The documentation here supports the view that actions under Obama were aimed at combating cartels, though operational errors (Fast and Furious) created political and legal fallout [3] [5].
Bottom line: within the provided reporting and official materials, there is no evidence that President Obama “gave money to cartels.” The sources document enforcement, sanctions, aid to Mexican security forces and a controversial ATF operation—matters that have been used politically to argue both that his administration failed and that it fought cartel power [1] [2] [3] [5].