Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former top security official, once charged with leading the fight against narcotrafficking, was convicted Tuesday for accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel under the former leadership of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who’s serving a life sentence in the United States. In exchange, García Luna protected cartel members from arrest, gave them safe passage for cocaine shipments and tip-offs about law enforcement operations.
García Luna served under former President Felipe Calderón, who launched Mexico’s U.S.-backed so-called war on drugs, that’s led to the killing and disappearance of tens of thousands of people. García Luna also worked closely with U.S. counternarcotics and intelligence agencies as part of the crackdown on drug cartels.
yesterday we were there at 3 a.m., outside of the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, and we were waiting for the verdict. There were five counts, and he was found guilty to all charges, which is a big thing, because he is this highest Mexican ever faced and now found guilty in the United States. He was once the person — the architect of the so-called war on drugs. He was the most trusted person of the DEA in Mexico. We saw — in the trial, we saw pictures of him with different high-ranking members of the U.S. government, like Hillary Clinton, like Barack Obama. So, the U.S. government and the U.S. agencies really trusted this guy for years, while Mexico was becoming the most dangerous place on Earth for journalists, and thousands of people were dying and dying, and continue dying, in Mexico because of the violence, and here in the United States because of the overdoses.
So, now we know that the so-called war on drugs was false, was completely a way to operate, to justify. And this was part of the closing arguments from the prosecution, who said — Saritha Komatireddy, the lead of
— source democracynow.org | Feb 22, 2023