Mexico held its breath on Wednesday, October 16, after the sentence of thirty-eight years in prison handed down by US federal judge Brian Cogan against Genaro García Luna, former Minister of the Interior in the government of Felipe Calderón (2006-1012). All Mexican media had launched a special edition: Genaro García Luna is the highest Mexican official ever sanctioned by US justice. His lawyer immediately announced that he would appeal the decision, which also includes a $2 million fine. The former minister, 56, has been in preventive detention in the United States for five years.
In February, the man who was the main architect of the “war on drug trafficking” that began in 2006 and that transformed Mexico into a huge cemetery, was found guilty of five charges, including four related to drug trafficking. During Wednesday’s sentencing, the judge considered that Genaro García Luna had indeed collaborated with the Sinaloa cartel and “He led a double life. You may be well dressed and say you respect the law, but your actual behavior was not much different from that of “El Chapo” Guzmán.” Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, one of the founders of the Sinaloa Cartel in 2019, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the same judge in 2020.
The former minister, who refused to speak during the trial, has since published two letters proclaiming his innocence. In the first, dated September 13, he writes that his trial “It is revenge for refusing to collaborate with the American authorities as a protected witness”. He also accuses former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) of giving false information about himself to US prosecutors.
“My conduct has always been respectful”
In the second five-page letter, made public on Tuesday, October 15 and addressed to Judge Brian Cogan to ask for clemency, Genaro García Luna introduces himself as “ a man of integrity, honest and hardworking. When I had the opportunity to fight drug trafficking, I was relentless against criminals. “My behavior has always been respectful and I have no record of contact with any criminal.” A portrait that hardly fits with the numerous accusations of torture and summary executions that exist in Mexico against García Luna and his closest collaborators at that time, several of whom are today behind bars. The former minister had also been accused of manipulation in the Florence Cassez case. “This man now presents himself as a victim. “There is a lot of cynicism in this letter.” reacted the new president Claudia Sheinbaum, questioned by journalists during her daily press conference on Wednesday.
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