Former security secretary, Genaro García Luna, goes to trial accused of helping “El Chapo”

The former Secretary of Security of Mexico, Genaro Garcia Lunaheard on Monday the allegations of the US government accusing him of having “betrayed” his country and the United States for trafficking cocaine, a crime for which he faces life imprisonment, while his defense assured that the case is based on “foundations unstable”.

Accused of five counts, including several for drug trafficking, the former Mexican “supercop” arrived at the courtroom with a relaxed face, putting his hand to his heart on several occasions, and his arms crossed while sending kisses to his wife and daughter. , present at the hearing presided over by the judge Brian Cogan.

Before beginning, he embraced the members of his defense, led by lawyer César de Castro.

After a long speech by the judge to the jury about what to do and how to behave throughout the 8 weeks that the trial is expected to last, the prosecution presented its allegations against the architect of the war that the former Mexican president of Felipe Calderon (2006-2011) launched against organized crime.

“The defendant took millions of dollars in bribes over and over again” from the sinaloa cartelof Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmanone of the largest drug traffickers in the world, tried and sentenced to life imprisonment by the same judge who is investigating the García Luna case, said prosecutor Philip Pilmar, who recalled that “no one is above the law.”

García Luna “betrayed his country and ours,” he declared.

According to the New York prosecutor’s office, the director of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) between 2001 and 2005 and Secretary of Public Security from 2006-2012 helped the Sinaloa cartel introduce 53 tons of cocaine into the United States, becoming one more “member” of the conspiracy.

The defense alleges that there is “no money, no photos, no videos, no recordings, no texts, no evidence” of these accusations.

This case is based on “shaky foundations,” De Castro said of the former “face of the war” against drug trafficking who settled in the United States when he left the Mexican government in 2012 and whose citizenship he applied for in 2018.

“Quantity is not quality,” the defense attorney told the jury, and when “you don’t have quality you overwhelm with quantity,” he lashed out.

“Government witnesses are victims of the war on drug trafficking” by Calderón. And they intend, according to the defense, “to kill two birds with one stone: reduce their sentence and take revenge on the person that drug traffickers hate the most,” he said.

The name of García Luna arose in the trial of Chapo in which one of the witnesses said that he had given him suitcases with millions of dollars in bribes between 2005 and 2007.