There’s been a firestorm in the media over a recent CNN interview with a Sinaloa Cartel gangster. See here for example.
I decided to watch the whole CNN video . It lasts ten and a half minutes and stars CNN correspondent Isobel Yeung, who is half-Chinese and half-British and was raised in England.
Isobel Yeung takes the viewer to Mexico’s Sinaloa state where the Sinaloa Cartel’s intra-cartel war is still going on. (See here). The infamous interview with the gangster is only a part of the video.
If you watch the whole video, it’s actually quite informative and does not glorify the drug cartels.
Isobel Yeung accompanies the Mexican National Guard in a helicopter to the mountains of Sinaloa, where she visits a marijuana field, a poppy field and a meth lab.
She witnesses the aftermath of violence in the streets of Culiacan and attends the funeral of a victim of the violence, interviewing the victim’s sister.
As part of the big picture, she interviews a member of the Sinaloa cartel who is involved in the production of fentanyl. It’s not a long interview.
Here is the text of the interview. Yeung spoke in English and the cartel guy responded in Spanish.
Interview:
Yeung: “How safe or dangerous is this area to be in?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: “Right now, all areas are dangerous.”
Yeung: “The Mexican military are making a big effort to crack down on the drug production here, how are you responding to that and how does that impact your work?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: “They’re doing a good job. There are more of them now, so we have to find a way to keep doing this, to keep working. Of course, on a smaller scale, not the same as before. But it continues.”
Yeung: “I mean, according to the Trump administration, you are a terrorist. I mean, the cartels have been labeled a foreign terrorist organization. What do you make of that?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: “Well, the situation is ugly. But we have to eat.”
Yeung: “What’s your message to Donald Trump if he’s watching this?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: ‘My respect. According to him, he’s looking out for his people, but the problem is the consumers are [in the United States]. If there weren’t any consumers, we would stop.”
Yeung: “There is a lot of violence playing out on these streets here at the moment every day, right? I mean, people are dying on a daily basis. Children are afraid to go to school. Do you have any sense of remorse over your role and your involvement in this group?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: “Of course. Of course. Things are sad, but — well, things are sad.”
After that the cartel guy ended the interview saying the CNN people needed to leave for their own safety.
Another thing about the video is that Isobel Yeung or someone in her team knows how to properly handle Spanish surnames, which is not true of all journalists!
In conclusion, I think it was a good news report and I salute Isobel Yeung for it.
Don’t take my word for it. Watch the video yourself, by clicking here.