a former Mexican police chief and minister tried in New York for his links with the “El Chapo” cartel

Mexicans have been following with passion the trial of former Mexican police chief Genaro García Luna, which is now nearing completion in New York. The man who was minister of public security under the presidency of Felipe Calderón, between 2006 and 2012, is accused by a federal court in the United States of having participated, when he was chief of police and then minister, in trafficking drugs for the Sinaloa cartel of notorious drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.

“The confessional of the narcos”

García Luna is also being tried by the same Brooklyn federal court that sentenced El Chapo to life in prison in 2019. And the former police chief and ex-minister faces the same sentence. He was arrested three years ago in the United States where he had taken refuge at the end of the presidency of Felipe Calderón, believing himself to be safe after having collaborated for more than a decade with American security agencies in the fight against drug trafficking. It was the minister’s double game: on the one hand, he participated in the fight against organized crime, on the other, he is accused of having received millions of dollars in bribes from the cartels. In Mexico, the corruption of García Luna was public knowledge, but justice never acted against the former minister.

The New York court witnessed a real parade of former drug traffickers who came to testify against García Luna, to the point that the Mexican press baptized this trial “the confessional of the Mexican narcos”. Their statements are damning for the former minister: several convicted criminals assured that they had given him millions of dollars in person to ensure his protection. They had certainly made agreements with the prosecutors to obtain certain benefits in exchange for their testimonies, but the latter still seemed solid and coherent.

Mexicans believe that such a trial could never have taken place in their country, given the corruption that undermines the judicial system. The fate of García Luna is now in the hands of the twelve members of the jury, who began their deliberations on Thursday February 16. But a majority of Mexicans would also like to see former President Felipe Calderón brought to justice: he could not ignore the actions of his favorite minister, according to a widely shared opinion in Mexico.