It is an exceptional trial which ends in Brooklyn, where Genaro Garcia Luna, strongman of the government of Felipe Calderon (2006-2012), is judged. The former minister of public security is accused of having been a “partner in crime” of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel. The jury began its deliberations on Thursday, February 16.
Heavy accusations against the former minister
It was in the United States, a country where he had been living since 2012, enjoying a suspicious fortune, that Genaro Garcia Luna was arrested at the end of 2019. He has since been behind bars, accused by American justice of having collaborated for nearly two decades with the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most influential in Mexico. He was allegedly involved in trafficking at least 53 tons of cocaine from Mexico to the United States and aided the cartel against its rivals.
Aged 54, he is the highest Mexican official to be tried in the United States. His trial opened in mid-January in New York, Brooklyn, in the same court that sentenced former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin to life in prison in 2019. “El Chapo” Guzman. At the helm, testimonies had then implicated the one who, as minister in charge of public security, embodied the fight against cartels under Felipe Calderon.
Five charges are against Genaro Garcia Luna: three for drug trafficking, one for belonging to organized crime, the last for perjury. The jury, made up of twelve people, must reach a unanimous verdict of guilt for the defendant to be convicted. Deliberations began Thursday, February 16, and the verdict is expected soon. If convicted, Genaro Garcia Luna faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, up to life.
An extraordinary trial
During the month that the trial lasted, the prosecution brought 26 prosecution witnesses to court. Among them, nine are accused of drug trafficking and were extradited to the United States to stand trial and collaborate with justice, in exchange for reduced sentences. On the stand, some confirmed having handed over large sums of money – several million dollars – to the accused.
The lawsuit is important for the United States, engaged in the war on drugs and facing the ravages of another drug, fentanyl, also controlled by the cartels. But the case does not fail to cause a stir in Mexico: during the trial, it emerged that the links between the cartel and Genaro Garcia Linea date back to the time when the accused was at the head of the Federal Agency of investigation (AFI, a Mexican FBI) in the time of Vicente Fox, the predecessor of Felipe Calderon.
The defendant’s defense also tried to implicate the current president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who came from the ranks of the Mexican left: according to Genaro Garcia Luna’s lawyer, seven million dollars were given to the secretary to the security of Mexico City, when the current president was the mayor.
Genaro Garcia Luna, a key man in the Florence Cassez case
A very prominent personality in Mexico, Genaro Garcia Luna is not unknown in France, because of the key role he played in the Florence Cassez affair in the 2000s. In 2005, he was the the head of the AFI when the young Frenchwoman is arrested on the outskirts of Mexico. AFI boss crafts re-enactment of arrest for TV, “recreation made at the request of the media”he will admit later, then minister.
In April 2008, the court sentenced Florence Cassez to ninety-six years in prison on five counts: organized crime, kidnapping and kidnapping, carrying weapons, possession of weapons and possession of cartridges. Before the Supreme Court of Mexico ordered his release in 2013 due to the violation of his fundamental rights in the proceedings that led to his conviction.