One of Mexico’s most powerful former officials will stand trial in the United States this week, accused of accepting high-dollar bribes from a violent cartel in a case with deep political implications that could expose the inner workings of the “war on drugs” on both sides of the nation. border.
Genaro García Luna, the former head of the Mexican equivalent of the FBI who went on to lead the country’s security ministry, was arrested in Texas in 2019, accused of conspiring to traffic cocaine and lying to the US government.
He was later accused of accepting multimillion-dollar bribes from the powerful Sinaloa cartel, once run by drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, in exchange for allowing him to operate with impunity, while allegedly leading Mexico’s anti-drug efforts.
The accusations against García Luna arose during the El Chapo trial, when one of the members of the Sinaloa cartel testified that he had given the former Minister of Security briefcases full of money. If convicted, the former employee faces life in prison.
“For nearly two decades, García Luna has betrayed those he was sworn to protect,” said Seth DuCharme, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announcing the second round of indictments in 2020, “by accepting bribes from members of the Sinaloa cartel to facilitate their crimes and strengthen their criminal enterprise.”
The trial, which is set to begin in a Brooklyn courthouse on Tuesday, has the potential to expose the insidious corruption that has plagued Mexican security agencies, while also highlighting the failures of the US-backed fight against drug trafficking groups and provides the current president with even more ammunition for his constant attacks against previous governments.
Mexico’s evolving war on drugs
Mexico’s “war on drugs” began in late 2006, when then-president Felipe Calderón ordered thousands of soldiers to take to the streets in response to a horrific outbreak of violence in his home state of Michoacán. This may interest you : Mexico blocks USA to win World Games gold medal in women’s flag football.
Calderón had hoped to crush the drug cartels with his heavily militarized attack, but the approach backfired and exacted a catastrophic human toll. As Mexico’s military went on the offensive, the body count soared to new highs and tens of thousands were forced from their homes, disappeared or were killed.
Simultaneously, Calderón also began pursuing the so-called “big boss strategy” whereby authorities sought to decapitate cartels by targeting their leaders.
That policy resulted in some high-profile scalps – notably Arturo Beltrán Leyva, who was shot dead by Mexican marines in 2009 – but it also did little to bring peace. In fact, many believe these tactics only served to pulverize the world of organized crime, creating even more violence as new, less predictable factions fought for their share of the pie.
Under Calderón’s successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, the government’s rhetoric on crime has softened as Mexico tries to shake off its reputation as home to some of the world’s most murderous mafia groups.
But Calderón’s policies have largely survived, with authorities targeting prominent cartel leaders such as Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán of Sinaloa.
When “El Chapo” was arrested in early 2016, the president of Mexico boasted: “Mission accomplished”. But the violence continued. When Peña Nieto stepped down in 2018, Mexico had suffered another record year for murders, with nearly 36,000 people killed.
Leftist populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power in December, promising a dramatic shift in tactics. López Obrador, or Amlo as most call him, has vowed to tackle the social roots of crime, providing vocational training to more than 2.3 million disadvantaged youths at risk of being ensnared by the cartels.
“It will be virtually impossible to achieve peace without justice and [social] well-being,” Amlo said, vowing to reduce the homicide rate from an average of 89 murders a day with his “hugs, not bullets” doctrine.
Amlo also pledged to preside over daily security meetings at 6 am and to create a 60,000-man “National Guard”. But those measures have yet to pay off, with the new security force used mainly to hunt down Central American migrants.
Mexico now averages around 96 murders a day, with nearly 29,000 people killed since Amlo took office.
“During the presidency of Felipe Calderón, [García Luna] was one of the two or three most important actors in the fight against drug trafficking, probably the most important one,” said Rafael Fernández de Castro, director of the Center for United States-Mexico Studies at the University of California, in San Diego, and a former foreign policy adviser to Calderón. “So yes, it is very significant.”
Once head of Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency, García Luna was chosen by Calderón in 2006 to serve as public safety secretary, which also put him in charge of Mexico’s defunct federal police.
During Calderón’s presidency, García Luna was tasked with developing and implementing the president’s militarized attack on the country’s powerful drug cartels. In doing so, he worked closely with American security officials and traveled regularly to the United States.
“He was one of Washington’s favorites,” said Fernández de Castro.
But according to the current attorney for the eastern district of New York, Breon Peace, García Luna secretly received millions of dollars from the Sinaloa cartel. In a letter last week to Judge Brian M. Cogan, Peace said that in exchange for the bribes, the cartel obtained “safe passage for its drug shipments, confidential police information about cartel investigations, and information about rival drug cartels.” . .
Sometimes the cartel was also warned of possible arrests, and even if they were arrested, cartel members could go free. Although protected by García Luna, the Sinaloa cartel managed to import “multi-ton drug shipments” into New York, according to Peace.
After leaving office in 2012, García Luna moved to Miami, where his luxurious lifestyle, including a multi-million dollar home and a yacht, was supported by businessmen he worked with while in office, helping them extend government technology and surveillance.
Using what the US attorney called “an opaque constellation of shell companies, straw buyers, foreign bank accounts, money companies and powers of attorney”, García Luna allegedly “spent his time selling the influence he gained by participating in the conspiracy to create wealth for himself in the United States.”
García Luna pleaded not guilty to the charges. César de Castro, a lawyer for the former security secretary, did not respond to an interview request.
People who knew and worked with García Luna, especially in his early days as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, described him as serious and rigorous – a figure at odds with the Miami-based playboy portrayed by US prosecutors.
“He was a very disciplined guy, very institutional,” said Gustavo Mohar, who served as secretary general of Mexico’s main intelligence agency, CISEN, under President Calderón. “He was the classic cop who in front of his superiors was very ‘Yes sir, no sir’.”
The problem, Mohar said, arose when García Luna was named head of the security ministry, a post with extraordinary power.
“He became the policeman, the guy in charge of ending organized crime and especially drug trafficking,” said Mohar. “I think it distorted your sense of reality.”
Given the close ties the former security secretary once had with Washington, the trial could also be awkward for US officials, security analysts said.
“It’s part of this complex web of cooperation, but also of complicity between authorities in Mexico and the United States in the war against drug trafficking and organized crime,” said Fernández de Castro, a former adviser to Calderón.
Peace, the US attorney, said the government “expects numerous witnesses, including several former high-ranking members of the Sinaloa cartel, to testify.” As with the El Chapo trial, this testimony, along with that of García Luna himself, has the potential to implicate current and former officials on both sides of the border.
But one official likely to be looking forward to the trial is Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who built his branding campaign on the corruption that plagued his predecessors.
“This is a wonderful gift for Andrés Manuel López Obrador, because it speaks to the corruption of the past,” said Fernández de Castro. “It’s a soccer ball that the United States Justice is giving him so he can score an incredible goal.”
Unlike the 2020 arrest of General Salvador Cienfuegos, which caused so much outrage among Mexican officials that the U.S. returned him to Mexico, López Obrador spent months furious with García Luna — even berating Mexican media for not covering the trial enough.
“It will be interesting,” the president said last week. “It is very important for me to follow him and I hope that the media is constantly reporting on this.”
Why do people join cartels?
What do cartels do with your money? Drug cartels hide their profits, dumping them into the vast global financial market using various methods including internet payment platforms, cryptocurrencies, payment cards and real estate. Then, they use the laundered money to underwrite their traffic.
Are cartels good for the economy?
Cartels cause significant harm to consumers around the world, amounting to many billions of dollars a year. This may interest you : DOH, PSD conduct coordinated operations to execute search warrant, product embargo on Pinky’s Hempire. The main objective of sanctions against cartels is deterrence.
What is the point of cartels?
Drug trafficking organizations, especially in South America, are often referred to as “drug cartels”. These organizations meet the technical definition of being cartels. This may interest you : Mexican Immigrants Increase Trade, Investment, and Prosperity. They are loosely affiliated groups that establish rules among themselves to control the price and supply of a good, ie illicit drugs.
Who do cartels target?
Cartels are extremely good at targeting high-value individuals like police and border agents. These recruits are important to narco-trafficking operations as they provide insight into vulnerabilities within the system, staff and are generally well trained in weapons and some even trained in torture techniques.
Qui détient le cartel de Sinaloa ?
Since the last few decades, the thriving Mexican Sinaloa cartel â dont la tête, El Chapo Guzmán, is âle trafiquant le plus recherché au mondeâ â déverse des flots de cocaïne sur la Californie avant d’inander l ‘ensemble des États-Unis.
Is El Chapo still rich? At his peak, El Chapo was worth over $14 billion and he was still making a lot of money while he was behind bars. Today, the drug lord is believed to have far less, but his wealth can still be seen on his son’s social media accounts.
Who took over for El Chapo?
El Mayo is the leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, taking over the notorious drug lord known as El Chapo five years ago. El Mayo has been on the run for decades.
Is El Chapo still alive?
| Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman | |
|---|---|
| reward amount | Mexico: $3.8 million United States: $5 million |
Where is El Chapo son now?
Known as “The Rat”, he had been in hiding since his capture and release in 2019. Ovidio Guzman Lopez, El Chapo’s eldest son, is now imprisoned in the same Mexican prison from which his father escaped on a motorcycle in 2015.
Qui est Amado ?
Amado was officially recognized as a citizen of Konoha and also allowed to work with the Équipe Scientifique des Armes Ninja.
What is Amado’s plan? Background. Amado’s daughter Akebi died of an unknown illness twelve years before Isshiki’s attack on Konoha. Despite this, Amado was not discouraged, believing he could resurrect his daughter by cloning her and transferring her memories into a new body while preserving her brain.
What is Amado true intention?
Amado swears his intention was only to protect the world from Isshiki, and he was forced to play along as a loyal member of Kara until the time came to strike, but there are several clues that suggest Amado is lying here.
Who crashed the airship Boruto?
Summary. Kara discusses the ship’s disappearance, where Victor tries to hide in involvement in the airship crash. After the meeting, Koji Kashin is revealed to be in the same room as Victor, killing him and destroying the fly spy device Victor used to steal data on the ship.
Is Playa del Carmen cartel?
The majority of violent crime in Playa del Carmen comes from cartel and gang violence. However, while burglaries are uncommon, they still happen, so avoid back streets and alleys, especially at night. Avoid walking anywhere at night. Just take a taxi.
Is Playa del Carmen safer than Tulum? Yes, drug-related crime does exist in Playa del Carmen, as it does in Tulum, but as the city is more developed and more populated, it seems safer to go out during the day and at night.
Is 5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen safe?
Playa del Carmen 5th Avenue Security Quinta Avenida (Fifth Avenue) is the most popular pedestrian street in Playa del Carmen and the main tourist area. It’s a great place to shop in Playa del Carmen, but it’s a crowded and lively place, making it an attractive spot for pickpockets.
Is Playa del Carmen safe to travel to right now?
Playa del Carmen is one of the safest places to travel in Mexico and one of the best beach towns in Mexico. For the most part, Playa del Carmen is considered safe for most visitors, with the biggest threats usually being hurricanes, undertows, sunburn, and mosquitoes.
