Mexico’s former public security chief to be sentenced in US drug case

Genaro Garcia Luna was convicted of taking millions of dollars in bribes to protect the violent Sinaloa drug cartel.

A former Mexican public security chief is due to be sentenced in a US court after being convicted of taking millions in bribes to aid drug traffickers his office was supposed to be fighting.

The sentencing on Wednesday in a New York federal court of Genaro Garcia Luna comes after he was convicted last year on charges of conspiring to protect the drug trafficking activities of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel.

Federal prosecutors said that under Garcia Luna’s watch, drug traffickers were able to ship over one million kilograms (1,100 tonnes) of cocaine through Mexico and into the US, including by planes, trains, trucks and submarines. They maintained his actions resulted in the deaths of thousands of US and Mexican citizens.

Garcia Luna denied the allegations. His lawyers have said the charges against him were based on lies from criminals who wanted to punish his drug-fighting efforts and receive sentencing breaks for themselves.

“Nothing backs up what these killers, torturers, fraudsters and epic narcotics traffickers claimed about Genaro Garcia Luna”, his defence lawyer Cesar de Castro said in a closing argument.

Prosecutors are asking the judge to sentence Garcia Luna to life in prison, while his lawyers are hoping for no more than 20 years behind bars.

“It is difficult to overstate the magnitude of the defendant’s crimes, the deaths and addiction he facilitated and his betrayal of the people of Mexico and the United States”, prosecutors wrote in court filings. “His crimes demand justice”.

Mexico’s ‘Super-cop’

Garcia Luna headed Mexico’s federal police before he served in a cabinet-level position as the country’s top security official from 2006 to 2012, earning the unofficial title of ‘Drug Czar’ during the administration of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

He was considered the architect of Calderon’s deadly war on cartels, and he was also hailed as a key ally by the US in its fight against drug traffickers. During the trial, photos were shown of Garcia Luna shaking hands with former President Barack Obama and speaking with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mexico’s Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna (L) stands beside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a visit to a federal police center in Mexico City March 26, 2009. [Reuters/Daniel Aguilar]

He later moved to Florida where he set up a consulting business.

In 2021, the Mexican government sued Garcia Luna, and his wife, in Florida court seeking recovery of $250m in funds allegedly stolen from the Mexican government in contracts while he was Minister of Public Security.

Horrific violence

Prosecutors say that in return for millions of dollars, Garcia Luna provided intelligence about investigations against the Sinaloa cartel, information about rival cartels, and the safe passage of massive quantities of drugs.

They also said that he ensured drug traffickers were notified in advance of raids and sabotaged legitimate police operations aimed at apprehending cartel leaders.

During the trial of former Sinaloa boss Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, in 2018, a former cartel member testified that he personally delivered at least $6m in payoffs to Garcia Luna, and that cartel members agreed to pool up to $50m to pay for his protection.

During Garcia Luna’s own trial, a roster of ex-smugglers and former Mexican officials testified against him, describing narco-extravagances such as a private zoo with a lion, a hippo, white tigers and more.

Witnesses also spoke of the horrific violence the drug trafficking fueled. They described cartel killings and kidnappings, police officers being slaughtered and drug-world rivals being dismembered, skinned and their corpses dangled from bridges as cartel factions fought each other while buying police protection.

Prosecutors also claim that Garcia Luna plotted to interfere with witnesses prior to last year’s trial verdict by seeking to bribe or corrupt multiple inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, to support false allegations.

“Lost everything”

In their appeal for leniency, Garcia Luna’s lawyers wrote to a judge that the former minister and his family have suffered public attacks throughout the nearly five years he has been imprisoned. “He has lost everything he worked for — his reputation, all of his assets,” they wrote.

The case has had political ramifications on both sides of the border. Testimony aired a secondhand claim that Calderon sought to shield the Sinaloa cocaine cartel kingpin Guzman against a major rival. Calderon has called the allegation “absurd” and “an absolute lie”.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was Mexico’s president through much of the Garcia Luna trial, also suggested that the US should investigate its own law enforcement and intelligence officials who worked with him during Calderon’s administration.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies