Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra

Early life and education Salazar was born in Pánuco de Coronado or San Juan del Río, Durango, in 1898, the son of Leopoldo Salazar Salinas and Aurora Viniegra de Salazar.

Career In 1925 Salazar returned to Mexico City and began his career as a psychiatrist for Mexico City's Manicomio General (English: General Asylum La Castañeda). and chief of the Oficina de Toxicomanías y Alcoholismo from 1938 to 1939. He held memberships to the Sociedad de Neurología y Psiquiatría, Consejo de Psiquiatria e Higiene Mental, and the Academia Nacional de Medicina. The formal government explanation attributed this decision to a shortage of resources and the inability to purchase drugs from Europe due to World War II. Documents from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., demonstrate multiple investigations into Salazar were held by several government agencies in the United States including the FBI, the State Department, American Embassy in Mexico, and the U.S. Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

Documents show the Treasury Department had focused on Salazar as early as August 1938 This allowed the U.S. to establish an embargo on the exportation of narcotics if the U.S. deemed the country's aims neither medical nor scientific. In 1957, Salazar died by suicide after investigations into the youth center found irregularities in its financial administration.