Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia, aka “El Lobo”, after his arrest in 2009. Rodolfo Angulo (Cuartoscuro)
Óscar Nava Valencia, aka El Lobo, is the second drug trafficker to claim to have paid bribes to Genaro García Luna. This was established on Monday in the trial in New York of the security minister in the government of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012). “I gave him cash,” said the Capo, a former leader of the Milenio Cartel and longtime Sinaloa Cartel ally. “It was more than $10 million,” he added. The drug trafficker explained that Arturo Beltrán Leyva, Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán and Ismael El Mayo Zambada had a direct relationship with the former officer. “They specifically mentioned Genaro García Luna, Luis Cárdenas Palomino and Ramón Pequeño,” he said of his former associates’ alliances with the accused and his two main accomplices, according to US authorities.
The Wolf referred to the bribes as “the arrangements.” These were payments to civil servants “to have security and protection” and “to be able to move freely”. “We bribed the federal government,” said Nava Valencia directly, who also referred to agents of the Federal Highway Police – a body that no longer exists – and politicians, although he did not name any.
The drug trafficker explained that in the early 2000s there was an alliance called the Federation, in which the Sinaloa Cartel formed a partnership with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel and former members of the Juárez Cartel. Nava Valencia worked closely with El Chapo and with Jesús El Rey Zambada, El Mayo’s brother, with whom he coordinated shipments of cocaine from Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia to Mexico City Airport, sometimes with a stopover in Central America.
He was also close to those close to Arturo Beltrán, such as Édgar Valdez Villarreal La Barbie and Sergio Villarreal Barragán El Grande, who was the first witness to testify against García Luna. “With the help of the government, the cartel grew in terms of territory, the amount of drugs we moved, and it eliminated its enemies,” Villarreal Barragán told a Brooklyn court Monday.
“El Grande” testifies against García Luna during the trial in New York on January 23, 2023. JANE ROSENBERG (Portal)
El Lobo has confirmed El Grande’s statements about the systematic payment of bribes to García Luna. Always according to this version, the first time Nava Valencia gave money to the former official was in 2006, when Arturo Beltrán convinced several of his partners to give “a tap” or collection. “They told us we had to ‘make a dick’ for all of us,” he said. That deposit was $2.5 million. Several Federation High Commands were asked to attend, including Nacho Coronel and Juan José Esparragoza, aka El Azul.
“Arturo, La Barbie and everyone else told us that we could count on Genaro García Luna for this,” said the boss. El Lobo, who appeared on the witness stand in inmate uniform, explained that in exchange for the money, they hoped for “more control over the territory” as well as aid and information leaks amid a war with La Familia Michoacana, their enemies. . The Beltrán Leyva family, Nava Valencia said, referred to the former secretary as a licenciado, compa or señor. “They also called him by his name, Genaro.”
He also said the relationship with the former official dates back to his time as director of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) during Vicente Fox’s administration (2000-2006). “When he sent people to Laredo, he sent a commander [de la AFI] to help us in the war they were waging over there,” he explained of alleged preferential treatment the Sinaloa Cartel received over its rivals, the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas.
El Lobo assured that he had at least two other meetings where he gave money to García Luna. The first took place in Cuernavaca in October 2007, after the Beltrán Leyva cartel (then allied with El Chapo) had seized more than 20 tons from the Navy. It was one of the largest seizures in Mexican history up to that point. Ten tons came from Nava Valencia and the other half from Arturo Beltrán. The Colombian partners blamed the Mexican drug traffickers for the losses, and the drug lords desperately sought out the then security minister.
“I was surprised to see him there,” said the witness, who said he was sitting right in front of the officer. García Luna informed them that the broadcast had been monitored from South America and shared documents proving DEA surveillance. The leak was worth its weight in gold and reassured the Colombian partners: “We saved $50 million.” Beltrán paid five million for this information and Nava Valencia gave another five more.
The second meeting took place in 2008, during the dissolution of the Federation under the command of the Sinaloa Cartel. Arturo Beltrán had had El Lobo kidnapped a few months earlier to see whose side he was on, with him or with El Chapo and El Mayo. His people had to pay a million dollar ransom and he managed to convince them that he would remain faithful, but he betrayed them shortly afterwards and allied himself with El Chapo. In the midst of the lawsuit, Nava Valencia requested a meeting with the security minister. The condition for the meeting was the advance payment of half a million dollars.
“It lasted about 15 minutes where we introduced ourselves and talked about Arturo [Beltrán]’ he said of the conversation, which he says took place at a car wash in Guadalajara. He said Luis Cárdenas Palomino, the police chief’s right-hand man, was there too, at a “car wash” that served as a front for one of his closest associates. “They were both wearing suits,” he recalls, “when we started talking they knew everything about the kidnapping.” García Luna offered to protect him, saying “that in the future they would have intermediaries to speak to us”. In addition to the $500,000, the secretary asked him for an additional $2.5 million to close the deal. In total, it was another three million dollars for the official, said El Lobo.
After breaking with the Sinaloa Cartel, the Valencia clan formed the Millennium Cartel, their own organization. The group was present in Michoacán, Jalisco, Colima, Mexico City, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. The Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), currently Sinaloa’s main competitor, is an offshoot of this former organization. Nemesio Oseguera El Mencho was also a member, as were several members of Los Cuinis, one of the CJNG’s armed wings. Nava Valencia was their leader from 2004 to October 2009 when he was captured at Tlajomulco de Zúñiga in Jalisco. El Lobo said he is serving a sentence in the US on three drug trafficking charges until April 2025.
Nava Valencia is the ninth witness ordered to testify against García Luna, but is only the second to have met and had direct contact with him. “What did you know about the relationships El Chapo had with government officials?” Assistant Prosecutor Marietou Diouf asked him. “He also mentioned Genaro García Luna,” the convict replied. “And El Mayo Zambada mentioned something about his relationships with officials?” the interrogation continued. “To Genaro. Garcia. Luna,” said El Lobo, emphasizing the breaks. While counting the money he allegedly delivered to García Luna, the capo asserted that he paid about $2 million a month in bribes to authorities at various levels of government.
García Luna is the highest-ranking former Mexican official serving in the dock in the United States. He faces three charges of cocaine trafficking, one for organized crime and another for false testimony. If found guilty, he faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and up to life imprisonment.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS México newsletter and receive all the important information about current events in this country