Former cartel bosses, drug traffickers and police officers take the stand at this week’s trial Genaro Garcia LunaMexico’s former federal security minister and architect of the country’s war on drugs, which he waged while working publicly with the DEA and covertly with capos, the world’s most powerful drug cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán,
No, that’s not the script for the fourth season of Netflix’s ‘El Chapo’ series, though it would make for an intriguing Mexican telenovela as America’s most trusted ally for more than a decade is now on trial in the same Brooklyn courtroom where El Chapo was tried four years earlier and sentenced to life imprisonment. Indeed, during El Chapo’s trial, the allegations against Garcia Luna came to light.
Garcia Luna, the highest-ranking Mexican official ever tried for drug corruption in the US, being accused Accepting millions of dollars in bribes from El Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for helping catch the cartel, among other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Garcia Luna’s defense team, led by Cesar de Castro, says the government does not have enough evidence to convict their client, who was arrested in 2019.
The defense said during opening statements, “There’s no money, no photos, no videos, no texts, no emails, no recordings, no documents – no reliable, credible evidence.” Not that Genaro Garcia Luna helped the cartel.”
De Castro said convicted cartel members on the prosecution’s witness list are taking the stand because they cut deals to reduce their own sentences and get back their client after Garcia Luna helped send him to prison. .
De Castro told jurors, “Don’t let the cartel get the better of you.”
The prosecution begs to differ. Prosecutors led by Sarita Komatireddy of the US Attorney’s Office say the protection provided by Garcia Luna to the Sinaloa Cartel enabled it heavy drug traffic At the time of El Chapo’s arrest in 2016, the cartel was supplying more than half of the cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana in the US today known as a major producer and exporter of deadly Sinaloa Cartel. fentanyl for usa
“he [García Luna] is a man who has betrayed his country and our country,” said public prosecutor Philippe Pilmar, according to various news outlets. “Defendant repeatedly accepted bribes amounting to millions of dollars.”
Prosecutors have a list of more than 70 witnesses ready to testify in the trial, which is expected to last more than two months.
Photo: Mexican government, Genaro Garcia Luna’s tenure as Minister of Security.