Garcia Luna: A trial has concluded in New York that exposes the corrupting power of drug trafficking in Mexico.

With final arguments, the trial of the former Secretary of Public Security Mexico Genaro Garcia Luna closes this Wednesday, almost four weeks ahead of schedule, in which twelve members of a jury will have to determine whether he is guilty of helping the Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquin “Chapo” Guzmán, deal in cocaine.

During the month of the trial, a significant portion of the more than 20 prosecution witnesses who passed through Brooklyn court outlined the corrupting power of drug money, from politicians to security forces, through customs officials and port and airport personnel.

At the time, the so-called “supercop” had been monetizing his influence with “Chapo” Guzman for several years, as the U.S. Department of Justice accused in 2020.

The lawsuit is also aimed at the top of the state. Former Nayarit prosecutor Edgar Veitia mentioned in the Brooklyn court investigating the case the name of former President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012), head Garcia Moon, who would give the order to support the faction of Joaquin “Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to life in the United States, to end the internal war between the cartels. Calderón flatly denied this in a tweet.

Jesus “Rey” Zambada, his brother’s right-hand man. Ismael “Mayo” Zambadawho would go on to head the Sinaloa cartel, according to the former, denied paying $7 million for Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s 2006 presidential campaign through Gabriel Regino, then chief of security for the Federal District.

“I couldn’t say that because it’s not true,” Zambada decided at the urging of a defense lawyer who asked him about the confession he would have made in 2013 before the US justice system after his extradition a year earlier.

millionaire payments

According to several witnesses, Garcia Moonwho refused to testify in his own defense in his own court would receive millions of payments from the cartels in exchange for protection.

The US justice system accuses the former “supercop” of becoming “participant in the Sinaloa Cartel conspiracy” starting in 2001.

Zambada claimed to have paid the defendant $5 million; Sergio Villarreal Barragán “El Grande”, another protégé of American justice, said that his then boss Arturo Beltrán Leyva also paid at least $1.5 million directly every month. Garcia Moon or through his right hand, Luis Cardenas Palomino.

Oscar “Lobo” Valencia would also pay more than $10 million to the man who was the architect of the war on drug trafficking that killed more than 340,000 people, most of them attributed to criminal organizations.

The defendant’s defense, led by attorney Cesar de Castro, throughout the trial attempted to undermine the credibility of witnesses who were often at odds and who, above all, despite their criminal record, benefited from strong sentence reductions in the United States in exchange for cooperation with justice. .

Garcia Moon he is charged with five counts: involvement in ongoing criminal activity; an international cocaine conspiracy; conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine; conspiracy to import cocaine and falsely applied for US citizenship in 2018. He can be sentenced to ten years to life imprisonment.

His fate is in the hands of 12 judges who, starting this Wednesday, will retire to deliberate, following recommendations agreed by investigating judge Brian Cogan, the prosecution and the defense.

They will have to determine whether this 54-year-old mechanical engineer, who moved to the United States in 2012 in search of peace of mind and safety, is guilty or innocent, his wife Cristina Pereira assured the court the day before.

Government Mexico, who has requested his extradition from the US, is also seeking $700 million allegedly embezzled by a former secretary accused of supervising the December 2005 arrest of French woman Florence Cassé and her ex-boyfriend Israel Vallarta, an operation exposed as a set-up. (According to AFP)