Many suspect he is the frontman for former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, while a Mexican researcher said even former presidents are scared of talking about him.
Mexican reporter, writer and filmmaker Diego Enrique Osorno recently published a book of one of the world's “allegedly” richest people, Mexican businessman Carlos Slim, who in 2011 was linked to drug trafficking by a DEA agent. In his book, Osorno writes that former Mexican presidents were “very fearful” of speaking about Slim. In March, Forbes said he was second only to Bill Gates in terms of riches, with a fortune hovering near US$80 billion.
WikiLeaks recently revealed emails dated April 2011, that confirm that Slim is involved in drug trafficking.
The first email is by Anya Alfano of global intelligence agency Strategic Forecasting, Inc., who was tasked with addressing Dell’s concerns about Slim. She wrote to Stratfor's head of intelligence Fred Burton:
“Do we have any information about where Carlos Slim fits into the [drug) cartel dynamics that we’ve seen in Mexico? … Should clients have any concerns about dealing with him professionally?”
Burton then asks DEA Special Agent William F. Dionne the question:
“Billy, is the MX billionaire Carlos Slim linked to the narcos?”
Dionne replies, “Regarding your question, the MX telecommunication billionaire is.”
At the center of the power elite is
Carlos Slim. His estimated net worth of about $60bn places him seventh on Forbes’s international rich list. This one man’s wealth is equivalent to more than 5% of Mexico’s GDP. The core of his empire is América Móvil, Latin America’s largest mobile phone company; its longtime domination of Mexico’s telecommunications industry has kept the nation’s phone rates among the highest in the world, costing the economy an estimated $25bn a year.
Slim also owns nearly 17% of the New York Times, making him its largest shareholder. Like other American news organizations, the Times rarely writes about him and the ways in which he and other Mexican oligarchs have used their power to stymie the tax policies, public investments and income transfers needed to enable more Mexicans to enjoy the type of comfortable middle-class life depicted in Roma, the recent acclaimed film set in Mexico City in the early 1970s.