A former Mexican public security chief has been sentenced in a United States court for enabling the drug traffickers his office was supposed to be fighting.
Genaro Garcia Luna received more than 38 years in prison and a $2m fine on Wednesday in a New York federal court.
The sentencing marked the culmination of a four-week trial that unfolded in February 2023, when Garcia Luna was found guilty of five criminal counts, including engaging in a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute cocaine internationally and making false statements.
Prosecutors, representing the US Justice Department, also accused the former high-ranking official of using his office to protect Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel as it trafficked drugs internationally.
They maintained his actions resulted in the deaths of thousands of US and Mexican citizens.
“Today’s sentencing of Genaro Garcia Luna is a critical step in upholding justice and the rule of law,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a press release.
“His betrayal of the public trust and the people he was sworn to protect resulted in more than one million kilograms (1,100 tonnes) of lethal narcotics imported into our communities and unleashed untold violence here and in Mexico.”
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.
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, as part of the administration of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
In the role, he became known by unofficial title of “drug czar”. Garcia Luna was considered the architect of Calderon’s deadly war on cartels, and the US hailed him as a key ally 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.
He later moved to Florida where he set up a consulting business.
In 2021, the Mexican government sued Garcia Luna and his wife in a Florida court, seeking the recovery of $250m in funds allegedly stolen by issuing illegal government contracts.
Horrific violence
The US government, meanwhile, initially arrested Garcia Luna in December 2019, on charges of making false statements and of engaging in a drug-trafficking conspiracy.
US federal prosecutors alleged 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.
“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.”
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 extravagances funded by the bribes, 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 and skinned, their corpses left dangling from bridges.
Prosecutors also claim that Garcia Luna plotted to interfere with witnesses prior to last year’s verdict by seeking to bribe or corrupt multiple inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, to support false allegations.
“Lost everything”
Ahead of Wednesday’s sentencing, the prosecutors sought a life sentence. Defence lawyers, meanwhile, angled for no more than 20 years behind bars.
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.
