Barbados Times

Barbados, Caribbean & World News
Tuesday, Mar 21, 2023

Mexico’s former public security chief convicted in US drug case

Mexico’s former public security chief convicted in US drug case

Genaro Garcia Luna was found guilty of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from drug-trafficking cartels in Mexico.

A former Mexican presidential cabinet member has been convicted in the United States of taking enormous bribes to protect the violent drug cartels he was tasked with combatting.

Under tight security, an anonymous New York federal court jury deliberated for three days before reaching a verdict in the drug-trafficking case against Mexico’s former Security of Public Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna.

He is the highest-ranking current or former Mexican official ever to be tried in the US.

Garcia Luna, who denied the allegations, headed Mexico’s federal police and then was its top public safety official from 2006 to 2012. His lawyers said the charges were based on lies from criminals who wanted to punish his drug-fighting efforts and to get sentencing breaks for themselves by helping prosecutors.

Garcia Luna showed no apparent reaction on hearing the verdict.

The case had political ramifications on both sides of the border. Testimony aired a secondhand claim that former Mexican President Felipe Calderon sought to shield the notorious Sinaloa cocaine cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman against a major rival. Calderon, meanwhile, has called the allegation “absurd” and “an absolute lie”.

Jurors also learned that Garcia Luna met with high-level US politicians and other officials who considered him a key cartel-fighting partner as Washington embarked on a $1.6bn push to beef up Mexican law enforcement and stem the flow of drugs.

A courtroom sketch in a New York federal court on February 17 shows Genaro Garcia Luna’s defence team researching information requested by the the jury

The Americans were not accused of wrongdoing, and although suspicions long swirled around Garcia Luna, the trial did not delve into the extent of US officials’ knowledge about them before his 2019 arrest.

Current Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has, however, pointedly suggested Washington should investigate its own law enforcement and intelligence officials who worked with Garcia Luna during Calderon’s administration.

A roster of ex-smugglers and former Mexican officials testified that Garcia Luna took millions of dollars in cartel cash, met with major traffickers and kept law enforcement at bay.

He was “the best investment they had”, said Sergio “El Grande” Villarreal Barragan, a former federal police officer who worked for cartels on the side and later as his main job. “We had absolutely no problems with our activities.”

He and other witnesses said that, on Garcia Luna’s watch, police tipped traffickers about upcoming raids, ensured cocaine could pass freely through the country, colluded with cartels to raid rivals and did other favours.

One ex-smuggler said Garcia Luna shared a document that reflected information from US law enforcement about a huge cocaine shipment seized in Mexico around 2007.

Garcia Luna, 54, did not testify at the trial, though his wife took the stand in an apparent effort to portray their assets in Mexico as legitimately acquired and upper-middle-class but not lavish. The couple moved to Miami in 2012 when the Mexican administration changed, and Garcia Luna became a consultant on security issues.

His lawyers emphasised that prosecutors’ case relied on testimony from admitted lawbreakers, without recordings, messages or a documented money trail to corroborate their accusations.

“Nothing backs up what these killers, torturers, fraudsters and epic narcotics traffickers claimed about Genaro Garcia Luna,” defence lawyer Cesar de Castro said in a closing argument.

Garcia Luna was convicted on charges that include engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a potential sentencing range of 20 years to life in prison. He also was convicted of other charges, including cocaine distribution and cocaine conspiracy. His sentencing is set for June 27.

The trial was peppered with glimpses of such narco-extravagances as a private zoo with a lion, a hippo, white tigers and more. Jurors heard about tonnes of cocaine moving through Latin America in shipping containers, go-fast boats, private jets, planes, trains and even submarines.

And there were horrific reminders of the extraordinary violence those drugs fueled.

Witnesses described cartel killings and kidnappings, allegedly including an abduction of Garcia Luna himself. There was testimony about police officers being slaughtered and drug-world rivals being dismembered, skinned and dangled from bridges as cartel factions fought each other while buying police protection.

Witnesses described delivering Garcia Luna to meetings with cartel leaders in settings ranging from a country house to a car wash. They also recounted trips to collect boxes and bags full of drug money at safe houses, a warehouse full of cocaine and a fancy Mexico City restaurant.

One ex-smuggler, Oscar “El Lobo” Nava Valencia, said he personally heard Garcia Luna and a then-top police official say they would “stand with us” during a meeting with Guzman’s associates amid a cartel civil war. That sit-down alone cost the drug gang $3m, Nava Valencia said.

Garcia Luna was arrested after testimony about his alleged corruption emerged at Guzman’s high-profile trial about four years ago in the same New York courtroom.

The former politician also faces various Mexican arrest warrants and charges relating to government technology contracts, prison contracting and the bungled US “Fast and Furious” investigation, which looked into suspicions that guns were illegally making their way from the US to Mexican drug cartels.

The Mexican government has also filed a civil suit against Garcia Luna and his alleged associates and businesses in Florida, seeking to recover $700m Mexico claims he garnered through corruption.

Lopez Obrador has given updates on the New York trial at his daily press conferences, calling Garcia Luna corrupt but noting it was up to the jury to decide whether he was guilty.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Barbados Times
Close
0:00
0:00
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman tours potential migrant housing in Rwanda as asylum deal remains mired in legal challenges
Paris Rioting vs Macron anti democratic law
'Sexual Fantasy' Assignment At US School Outrages Parents
Credit Suisse to borrow $54 billion from Swiss central bank
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
Jeremy Hunt insists his Budget will get young parents and over-50s back into work
If this was in Tehran, Moscow or Hong Kong
TRUMP: "Standing before you today, I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent World War III."
Mexican President Claims Mexico is Safer than the U.S.
A brief banking situation report
Lady bites police officer and gets instantly reaction
We are witnessing widespread bank fails and the president just gave a 5 min speech then walked off camera.
Donald Trump's asked by Tucker Carlson question on if the U.S. should support regime change in Russia?.
Silicon Valley Bank exec was Lehman Brothers CFO
In a potential last-ditch effort, HSBC is considering a rescue deal to save Silicon Valley Bank UK from insolvency
BBC Director General, Tim Davie, has apologized, but not resigned, yet, following the disruption of sports programmes over the weekend
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
City officials in Berlin announced on Thursday that all swimmers at public pools will soon be allowed to swim topless
Fitness scam
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
Senator Tom Cotton: If the Mexican Government Won’t Stop Cartels from Killing Americans, Then U.S. Government Should
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
The unelected UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, an immigrant himself, defends new controversial crackdown on illegal migration
Man’s penis amputated by mistake after he’s wrongly diagnosed with a tumour
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Is Gold the Ultimate Safe Haven Asset in Times of Uncertainty?
Spain officials quit over trains that were too wide for tunnels...
Don Lemon, a CNN anchor, has provided a list of five areas that he believes the black community needs to address.
Hello. Here is our news digest from London.
Corruption and Influence Buying Uncovered in International Mainstream Media: Investigation Reveals Growing Disinformation Mercenaries
Givenchy Store in New York Robbed of $50,000 in Merchandise
European MP Clare Daly condemns US attack on Nord Stream
Former U.S. President Carter will spend his remaining time at home and receive hospice care instead of medication
Tucker Carlson called Trump a 'demonic force'
US Joins 15 NATO Nations in Largest Space Data Collection Initiative in History
White House: No ETs over the United States
U.S. Jet Shoots Down Flying Object Over Canada
Being a Tiktoker might be expensive…
SpaceX, the private space exploration company, made a significant breakthrough in their mission to reach space.
China's top tech firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, NetEase, and JD.com, are developing their own versions of Open AI's AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT
This shocking picture, showing how terrible is the results of the earthquake in Turkey
President Joe Biden delivered the 2023 State of the Union Address , in order to help Americans that missed the 2022 speech, do not have internet, and suffer from short memory.
The desk of King Carlos Alberto of Sardinia has many secret compartments
Today's news from Britain - 9th February 2023
The five largest oil companies in the West generated combined profits of nearly $200 billion in 2022, which has led to increased calls for governments to impose tougher windfall taxes
2 earthquakes in Turkey killed over 2,300 people
Powerful Earthquake Strikes Turkey and Syria, Killing More Than 1,300 People.
×