(Belga) A former Mexican minister, who led his country’s drug war, is on trial from Tuesday in New York for drug trafficking between his country and the United States.
Genaro Garcia Luna, Minister of Public Security in the government of Mexican President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012), was arrested on December 9, 2019 in Dallas, Texas, accused of accepting bribes to protect the Sinaloa Cartel and involved in trafficking at least 53 tons of cocaine to the United States. The 54-year-old is the most senior Mexican official to be brought to justice by federal prosecutors in New York, in the war against Central and South American drug cartels who take advantage of the complicity of local ministers to flood the market the United States. Former leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 by federal court in Brooklyn. His sidekick, Colombian Dairo Antonio Usuga, alias “Otoniel”, is awaiting trial in the same New York jurisdiction, while former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has denied all charges of drug trafficking brought against him by the Manhattan prosecutors. In October 2020, Mr. Garcia Luna pleaded not guilty to five counts before the American courts. He faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, up to life. (Belga)
