In May 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken designated Sali Berisha, Albania’s former conservative prime minister, for “involvement in significant corruption.” While Berisha left that office eight years prior, his corruption isn’t in question.
What is in question, however, is why the Biden administration is tolerating the corruption of Albania’s current socialist government under Prime Minister Edi Rama. Compelling evidence suggests that Rama may be directly involved in a narcotrafficking alliance between Albanian mobsters and the Mexico-based Sinaloa cartel.
Formerly led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman (now in U.S. federal prison), the Sinaloa cartel is led by an alliance of El Chapo’s sons and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada-Garcia. A report by Mexico’s El Universal newspaper earlier this month outlined how Albanian mafia elements are tied to the Sinaloa cartel. Referencing Mexican intelligence sources, El Universal documents how Albanian mobster brothers — Luftar, Arben, Fatos, and Ramiz Hysa — are laundering money for El Mayo via resorts in both Mexico and Albania.
