A man who was once the top security official in Mexico will face trial in the United States starting this week on charges of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to help facilitate the business of cartels instead of cracking down on them. .
Genaro García Luna was best known as the stammering, tough-looking former security secretary of former President Felipe Calderón, and prosecutors say he accepted tens of millions of dollars in bribes, sometimes stuffed in briefcases, to help cartel members avoid catch and operate. freely in Mexico.
Prosecutors say he continued to live off his ill-gotten gains even after moving to the United States, where he was arrested in 2019, though the defense says he was a legitimate businessman.
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In this file sketch from January 3, 2020, defense attorney Cesar de Castro, left, former top Mexican security official Genaro Garcia Luna, center, and a court interpreter appear for a reading hearing. of charges in Brooklyn federal court.
(AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams, File)
Jury selection was scheduled to begin Tuesday, and prosecutors are expected to provide evidence in the form of pay stubs showing him accepting money from various cartel-linked proxies.
“For decades, the political elite of Mexico, of all parties, has sought by all means that security ministers, generals, police commanders, secretaries of the Interior and high officials are tried and imprisoned in Mexico… All this to prevent that give information about the ties between drug cartels and politicians,” said Mexican security analyst David Saucedo. “The trial of García Luna in the United States breaks with that pattern.”
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Cesar De Castro, attorney for Genaro Garcia Luna, a former top Mexican security official, arrives at federal court in Brooklyn, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, in New York. Luna goes on trial on charges of helping the Sinaloa Cartel traffic drugs and protecting them from capture while he served as Mexico’s top security officer.
(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Luna was responsible for taking down several big-name cartel leaders while running Mexico’s version of the FBI, which was tasked with brutally cracking down on drug violence during the Calderón administration, but authorities say Luna lived a double life and helped cartels to escape the law. at the same time.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador welcomed the trial, which is expected to shed light on corruption in the Calderón administration, whom the president accuses of stealing the presidency from him in 2006.
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United States President Joe Biden (left) shakes hands with his Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a welcome ceremony at the National Palace in Mexico City, on January 9, 2023.
(NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images)
The trial begins just days after President Biden met with López Obrador in Mexico City. The two governments pledged continued cooperation against drug cartels, especially against the scourge of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which contributed to more than 107,000 drug overdose deaths in the US in 2021. putting the military in charge of much part of the security of the country.
Luna has pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking and an ongoing criminal enterprise. He could face decades in prison if he is found guilty.
Associated Press contributed to this report
