U.S. drops drug case against Mexican ex-defense minister

FILE PHOTO: Mexico's former defense Minister General Salvador Cienfuegos attends an event at a military zone in Mexico City, Mexico September 2, 2016. REUTERS/Henry Romero//File Photo

NEW YORK/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday granted a U.S. government request to drop drug charges against former Mexican Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos, a move Mexico said would restore trust in severely strained security cooperation ties.

U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon granted the request at a hearing in Brooklyn, New York after Tuesday's abrupt announcement by U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Mexico Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero that the U.S. case would end.