Today, former Mexican chief of Security, Genaro Garcia Luna was convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy charges in the Eastern District of New York. Garcia Luna had been the equivalent of the FBI director in Mexico. He had pledged to crack down on drug cartels, but in truth, was taking bribes from the cartels, principally the Sinaloa Cartel.
This case has been followed very closely in Mexico. Today's article from Excelsior is translated by Fousesquawk.
*Note: This article is still being updated including during the translation, so there will be a few disparities as to paragraphs (which have just been added by Excelsior).
Jury finds Genaro Garcia Luna guilty of drug traffic in US
Genaro Garcia Luna was found guilty of the 5 counts he was charged with in the US, 4 of which were for drug trafficking.
Jimena Campuzano at 13:58
Caption: Genaro Garcia Luna was found guilty in the US.
Genaro Garcia Luna, secretary for security under Felipe Calderon, was found guilty of the 5 counts he was charged with by the Prosecutor of New York, 4 of them related to drug trafficking, as announced by Judge Brian Cogan in reading the verdict today, 21 February 2023.
After more than two days of deliberations, during which (the jury) requested extracts of the testimonies of some of the witnesses, such as that of Jesus El Rey Zambada, as well as that of Sergio Villarreal Barragan, El Grande, the former to (confirm) that Garcia Luna was in the pay of the Sinaloa Cartel, among others, the 12 members of the jury reached a verdict and determined that Garcia Luna was guilty.
At 13:54 (1:54 pm), Judge Brian Cogan read the sheet with the jury's verdict in the courtroom in Brooklyn, New York in the presence of Garcia Luna, his wife, Cristina Pereyra, and their two sons, as well as the prosecutors and the ex-official's defense. Garcia Luna showed no expression, only a red face and a serious countenance while with his family, there were no tears or complaints.
After being found guilty in a trial that lasted one month, after being delayed for 3 years after the arrest of the ex-Security secretary in December 2019, now Garcia Luna will wait until June 27 to know what his sentence will be, which will be decided by Judge Brian Cogan.
Garcia Luna is the first high-level ex-official in Mexico to be brought to trial and found guilty of having conspired with the Sinaloa Cartel to introduce tons of cocaine into the US. For that, the prosecutors presented 26 witnesses, and their testimonies were the evidence in proving the nexus of the ex-secretary to drug trafficking.
Caption: Oscar Nava Valencia, El Lobo (the Wolf) was one of the prosecution witnesses against Genaro Garcia Luna in his trial in the US (Reuters)
Ex-drug traffickers, ex-police, DEA agents, and even an ex-ambassador took the stand and made different revelations. They put into evidence the outline of the government corruption that allowed the drug traffic in the Mexico City International Airport itself, and that the US anti-drug agency (DEA) had (information) as to the above criminal plot since it knew the location where bribes were paid to ex-officials.
Jesus El Rey Zambada was one of the prosecution's key witnesses, and in his statements, he claimed to have personally met two times with Garcia Luna in a Mexico City restaurant to pay him bribes totaling 5 million dollars, which made it clear that the former official was in the pay of the Sinaloa Cartel.
However, Garcia Luna not only received payments from the Sinaloa Cartel, but also from the Beltran Leyva, according to the testimony of Sergio Villarreal Barragan, El Grande, who also revealed that Garcia Luna was kidnapped on a highway in Morelos on the way to Cocoyoc on the orders of Arturo Beltran Leyva, who was annoyed by the operations against his criminal group.
Caption: Sergio Villarreal Barragan, El Grande, was the first witness in the trial against Genaro Garcia Luna in the US (Reuters).
The testimony of El Grande was not the only one in which Garcia Luna was tied to Arturo Beltran Leyva, since ex-federal police officer Francisco Cañedo Zavaleta claimed that he himself saw the former official talking to El Barbas and with Edgar Valdez Villarreal, La Barbie, on a highway in Morelos and observed that they entered into a sub-division.
In the trial, ex-President Felipe Calderon was also named for the first time after the ex-prosecutor of Nayarit (State) claimed that in a meeting with ex-Governor Ney Gonzalez, he (Gonzalez) told him that in a meeting with the ex-president and Garcia Luna, they told him, "the line is with Los Chapos".
Garcia Luna's defense, led by the attorney, Cesar de Castro, attempted to discredit the testimonies as evidence by rejecting the quality and the value of the witnesses pointing out that they were criminals who held a hatred for the ex-official due to his arrests and who were not seeking some benefits for their statements.
Crimes against Mexico will not be forgotten: Spokesman for the Presidency
After the verdict in the trial against Garcia Luna was announced, Presidential Spokesman, Jesus Ramirez Cuevas, stated that the crimes of the ex-secretary of Security in Mexico "will not be forgotten".
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