Former Mexican security chief’s Brooklyn trial for alleged ties to Sinaloa cartel could have grave implications for US-Mexico ‘war on drugs’

Garcia Luna, a former head of Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency who later served as Secretary of Mexico’s Public Security, was arrested in Texas in 2019 and was charged with lying to the US government and conspiring to traffic cocaine, according to The Guardian.

The Eastern District of New York said in 2020 that between 2001 and 2012, "while occupying high-ranking law enforcement positions in the Mexican government," Garcia Luna received millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel "in exchange for providing protection for its drug trafficking activities."

"As alleged, for nearly two decades Garica Luna betrayed those he was sworn to protect by accepting bribes from members of the Sinaloa Cartel to facilitate their crimes and empower their criminal enterprise,” said Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Seth Ducharme at the time.

The Eastern District of New York said that in exchange for the bribes, the defendants, including Garcia Luna and two high-ranking Mexican law enforcement officials who worked under Garcia Luna, "abused their public positions by allowing the Sinaloa Cartel to obtain safe passage for its drug shipments, and by providing sensitive law enforcement information about investigations into the Cartel, and information about rival drug cartels, thereby facilitating the importation of multi‑ton quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the United States."

"For example, between 2002 and 2007, Garcia Luna allegedly aided at least six cocaine shipments totaling more than 50,000 kilos of cocaine," the district said.

According to The Guardian, the accusations against Garcia Luna were revealed during Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman’s trial, when a former member of the cartel testified that he had given Garcia Luna briefcases full of cash.

If convicted, Garcia Luna could face up to life in prison. Garcia Luna has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

During Felipe Calderon’s presidency, Garcia Luna was tasked with developing and rolling out the president’s assault on the country’s most powerful cartels. During this campaign, Garcia Luna worked closely with American security officials, and traveled frequently to the US.

In a letter sent last week to Judge Brian M Cogan, US attorney for the eastern district of New York Breon Peace said that "While holding public office, the defendant used his official positions to assist the Sinaloa Cartel, a notorious Mexican drug cartel, in exchange for multimillion-dollar bribes."

Peace said that the government expects a number of former high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel to testify during the trial.

"In exchange for these bribes, the defendant provided the Sinaloa Cartel with, among other things, safe passage for its drug shipments, sensitive law enforcement information about investigations into the cartel, and information about rival drug cartels," Peace wrote.

"These payments allowed the cartel at times to receive warnings in advance of law enforcement efforts to apprehend cartel members and to allow cartel members to be released if arrested. During the time that the defendant protected the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for bribes, the cartel was able to send multi-ton drug loads to the Eastern District of New York, including Brooklyn and Queens," he added.

After leaving office in 2012, Garcia Luna moved from Mexico to Miami, starting a consulting firm through which he continued to do business with former colleagues and officials in the Mexican government, living a "comfortable lifestyle" complete with a multi-million-dollar home and yacht in Miami.

"The defendant conducted all of these activities through an opaque constellation of shell companies, straw buyers, foreign bank accounts, cash businesses, and proxies," Peace wrote.

According to The Guardian, security analysts say that Garcia Luna’s close ties with the US government could implicate officials on both sides of the border during the trial.

"It’s part of this complex web of cooperation but also complicity between officials in Mexico and the United States in the war against drug trafficking and organized crime," said Rafael Fernández de Castro, a former foreign policy advisor to Calderon.