On the second day of the judicial process in New York, the defense of Genaro García Luna, former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, took the floor to attack the prosecution’s witnesses.
This Tuesday, defense attorney César de Castro questioned the first witness for the prosecution, former federal police officer Sergio Villarreal Barragán, nicknamed ‘El Grande’.
In his question time, the defense wanted to profile the witness as a liar and violent. ‘El Grande’, after affirming that he did not remember if Arturo Beltrán Leyva, his boss, had committed murders, accepted that he shot two women in the head for having made a negative comment about his wife and that blood splashed on him.
García Luna, who was also director of Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency between 2001 and 2005, has charges against him for allegedly offering the Sinaloa Cartel information on its rivals and safe-conduct for drug shipments, in exchange for tens of millions. dollars, prosecutors said.
During the opening arguments of the trial On Monday, prosecutor Philip Pilmar said the former secretary authorized some arrests and seized some drugs to keep up appearances, but was actually on the payroll of the cartel once led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, it reported. Reuters.
García Luna’s defense questioned “El Grande” about the murders ordered of members of the federal police and enemies of rival cartels, and stated that he had a reputation for “beheading” his victims, to which he replied that he did not know about his fame, but acknowledged that they did fear him.
The interrogation was also loaded with some inaccuracies by the defense regarding dates and nicknames of some drug traffickers. De Castro, in his final questions, asked “El Grande”, who is already free, the details of his cooperation agreement with the prosecution, which lasted more than a year and which includes a path for a visa in the United States. Joined.
On the other hand, it was established that the witness does not have recordings or filming that support his testimonies, despite acknowledging that it was the custom of the cartel to record everything.
The prosecution resumed final questions and with this ended the turn of “El Grande” on the stand. It is expected that in the next few hours the name of the second witness who will be called to testify in this trial will be known.
Possible life sentence
García Luna pleaded not guilty, and is accused of cocaine trafficking, organized crime and false statements. If convicted, he faces between 10 years in prison and life in prison.
It was also learned that the Mexican government is working on legal actions to try to recover at least 700 million dollars from García Luna, he points out. The Associated Press.
“What we are going to try is to collect the money,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador explained on Tuesday.
[Parte de la información para este reporte provino de las agencias Reuters y The Associated Press]
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