THE Mexican former minister Genaro García Luna, The sometime architect of the so-called war against drugs in his country, it was judged guilty yesterday Tuesday from the American justice for corruption and synergy in the trafficking of cocaine from Mexico in the USA.
He is now at risk of being sentenced to life in prison.
He is the highest-ranking former Mexican official to go on trial in New York, where federal justice is at war with Central and South American drug cartelsbenefiting from the collusion of local officials to flood the US market with substances.
The twelve jurors of the Brooklyn court found the one-time Secretary of Public Security during the days of President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) guilty of five charges; among other things, that was bribed with millions of dollars to protect the Sinaloa cartel and that he was involved in the trafficking of 53 tons of cocaine from Mexico to the US the period from 2001 to 2012.
“Justice has been served,” commented with satisfaction via Twitter the representative of the Mexican presidency, Jesus Ramirez.
Before becoming a minister, García Luna, with engineering studies, was, as APE-MPE reports, from 2001 to 2005 police officer and was the head of an intelligence agency working against corruption and organized crime.
He listened calmly to the verdict
His wife and their two children were in the room when the verdict was read against the former minister, who seemed unfazed.
After several days of jury deliberations and a month-long trial, Garcia Luna, who did not say a word during the hearings, is now a “convicted felon,” the Brooklyn federal prosecutor’s office said.
Garcia Luna, “who was once the head of law enforcement in Mexico, he will live the rest of his days as a traitor to his country and the dedicated law enforcement officers who risk their lives to dismantle drug cartels,” U.S. Attorney Brian Peace summarized in a press release issued by his office.
The former Mexican minister’s sentence, which will range from 20 years to life in prison, is expected to be announced on June 27.
Repentant “criminals”
From mid-January to mid-February, the prosecution called 26 witnesses to testify, including nine accused or convicted drug traffickers who were extradited to the US to stand trial and cooperated with the judiciary to secure lighter sentences.
The prosecution invited the jury to listen to these “repentant criminals” and judge Garcia Luna “guilty”: the 54-year-old was, he stressed, man “with two faces”, minister in charge of combating drug trafficking who worked closely with Washington on the one hand, “partner in crime” of the Sinaloa cartel on the other.
In 2019, the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, was sentenced to life in prison in the same court in Brooklyn. His Colombian associate Dario Antonio Usuga, or “Otoniel,” is also on trial in this New York court, as is former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Genaro Garcia Lula was arrested on December 9, 2019 in Dallas, Texas (South). Remanded in custody since then, he was accused of taking millions in bribes to turn a blind eye to drug trafficking by the cartels.
Cesar de Castro’s lawyer, who throughout the trial spoke of “absence of evidence”, without convincing, promised yesterday, surrounded by supporters of his client and opponents of former President Calderon, that his client will “continue the fight (…) to clear his name”.
Without officially announcing that he will appeal.
Source: News Beast
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