A demonstration outside the Brooklyn courthouse where the trial of former Mexican Minister of Public Safety Genaro Garcia Luna is taking place, in New York (U.S.), February 21, 2023. DAVID DEE DELGADO/ Portal
The verdict was unequivocal and Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s former head of public security (2006-2012), now risks being behind bars for a long time. On Tuesday, February 21, the man who for more than a decade was the architect of Mexico’s “war on drugs” was found guilty by Brooklyn federal court in New York on charges against him of ” Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime and Misrepresentations to US Immigration Services”.
Since January 17, the 12 jurors among the 26 prosecution witnesses have seen the “Gotha” of the Mexican drug trade of the 2000s. They learned the nicknames of former Sinaloa Cartel leaders Beltran Leyva and Milenio, who became collaborators with the US justice system in exchange for reduced sentences. “The King,” “The Big One,” “The Rabbit,” “The Wolf,” “The Footballer” have all admitted paying millions of dollars to the former minister in exchange for his protection. According to their testimonies, Garcia Luna sometimes obeyed, sometimes cheated. Eventually, he sided with the Sinaloa Cartel, giving it unprecedented clout and provoking a bloody war.
New York Assistant District Attorney Saritha Komatireddy dubbed the cartel “Cocaine Fedex,” referring to the US freight company. In her opinion, traffic by plane, train, bus and even submarine could not be as effective “than with the cooperation of the former minister”. She explained that thanks to the testimonies of criminals, it took the American judiciary ten years to bring their charges. Elias Camhaji, who followed the trial for the El Pais newspaper, particularly recalled the testimony of Sergio Villarreal, aka El Grande: “He was the most specific about the collaboration between his cartel and Garcia Luna’s henchmen and how he described the police had uniforms, their cars, their intelligence and their concrete help to attack their enemies”. For these services, the one whom the “narcos” nicknamed “El Compa” (“the Companion”) or “El Tartamudo” (“the Stutterer”) because of his notorious stutter would have received money in attorney’s briefcases or gym bags, including one Restaurant directly across from the US Embassy in Mexico City.
police involved
Mexican investigative journalist Anabel Hernandez was also there in court to see in the dock the man who would have tried several times to assassinate him for his investigations into the ties that linked him to the Sinaloa cartel. She was delighted when Mexican police officers at the bar recounted how their colleagues, on orders from Garcia Luna, helped the “narcos” transport drugs at Mexico City’s airport: “These police officers are very brave, they didn’t have anything to gain if one comes here to testify, on the contrary. Those who have previously denounced Garcia Luna’s crimes are dead or in prison. »
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