Former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón responded Tuesday night to a New York court’s verdict that found his former Public Safety Minister Genaro García Luna guilty. Calderón has avoided sentencing the person responsible for leading the war on drug trafficking unleashed during his tenure, but has reiterated that the verdict is being “politically used to attack me.” In a statement published on his official Twitter account, the former president justified the security decisions he made during his six-year tenure and said he acted “with the law in his hands”.
Calderón’s testimony comes hours after Brooklyn Judge Brian Cogan found García Luna guilty of the crime of conspiracy to sell cocaine internationally; conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine; conspiracy to import cocaine; organized crime and misrepresented his naturalization application, declaring that he had not committed any crime. Never before has a former Mexican official of his profile been tried in the United States. Calderón has avoided commenting on the allegations against García Luna and has avoided criticizing or condemning the actions of his former senior official. “This resolution does not diminish the courageous struggle of thousands of police officers, soldiers, sailors, prosecutors, judges and good officials who have defended Mexican families from crimes,” said the former president.
After taking power in 2006, Felipe Calderón launched a military offensive against organized crime groups in Mexico. Known as the “drug war,” the strategy sowed terror across much of Mexico and killed more than 170,000 people in a decade. Human rights organizations have pointed out that during this offensive there were violent incursions by the armed forces, but that the decisions were justified from the highest level. In his statement on Tuesday, Calderón said: “I have fought crime with all determination, with the law in my hands, without granting a truce or distinguishing between groups. I have never negotiated or agreed with criminals. I have never used the President’s inauguration to advocate for their interests.” The former President also said “I was the President who did the most work on organized crime” and assured that he will do so again, “because it’s the right thing to do”.
In his statement, the former President (2006-2012) reiterated his respect for the US court’s resolution, assuring that “the confessed criminals” who witnessed García Luna’s trial “are mostly prosecuted, imprisoned and… delivered my government.” In a personal account of the achievements of his “war”, Calderón has confirmed that he has succeeded in weakening organized crime, strengthening the state, reclaiming areas under criminal control and arresting “criminals of all organizations”. He added that “arms, drug and money seizures reached unprecedented levels.” However, the ex-president has not commented on the tens of thousands of deaths caused by the offensive against crime, nor on the thousands who have disappeared, nor on the state of terror in which various states of Mexico have been overthrown. “Security policy has produced results not only in the most emblematic cases, but also at the national level,” Calderón stressed.
The trial of García Luna was used by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as a campaign to criticize Calderón, who in his statement recalled that his security strategy was backed by US government agencies at the time. Calderón has faced criticism and has reiterated that the New York court ruling is being used politically to attack him. “I urge Mexicans not to be distracted from the basics: families today suffer extortion, robbery, violence and impunity for criminals every day,” wrote the former president, who last October received a residency and work permit as a highly qualified professional Mexicans had received in Spain. Calderón has also attacked López Obrador’s executive branch, though without directly mentioning the president. “The state must use its power to fight crime and not use the judiciary in a biased manner and intimidate critics and opponents,” he said.
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