In letter, García Luna asks the judge for clemency prior to his sentencing

New York and Washington. Genaro García Luna will be sentenced this Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn, where prosecutors have requested a life sentence while the defense seeks the minimum of 20 years in prison, and a day before the defendant himself sent a letter to the judge asking clemency by insisting that he never had ties to drug trafficking and that he is “a good man.”

In his letter to Judge Brian Cogan, who presided over his trial and will hand down his sentence, he talks about how he was raised in a family with a “great sense of ethics” and “being good people” with “love for our country.” He indicated that his family was “witness of my difficult profession” and the “superhuman efforts to fight against the crime and violence that my country is experiencing.”

In the handwritten and undated letter, he accuses the current government of Mexico for its judicial process, writing that “my country is suffering a great upheaval, by order of the current president of Mexico the judicial branch of the country has just been dismantled… his seeks to imprison those of us who fight, its political allies linked to drug trafficking, Mexico is entering a very dangerous stage, moving away from democracy and questioning individual freedoms; A pause – suspension of official relations between the US and Mexico has just been declared, threatening and putting at risk the coordinated work between the US and Mexico,” he states.

With all this, he concludes by asking the judge to consider all these factors surrounding this trial when issuing the sentence, “among others the false information provided by the current government of Mexico and the criminal witnesses, their complicity against me and my responsibility.” in the frontal combat against drug trafficking where powerful political interests also confront each other.”

He remembers that “I am the Mexican with the most recognitions and decorations” in several countries including the United States “for the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking,” and emphasizes that he participated in the highest levels of collaboration in intelligence and security with the United States. He insisted that he never profited from his positions, and that “there is no record or history of contact or link with any criminal.”

Although he did not dare to explicitly declare his innocence, he concludes his letter by stating that “I have never been a threat or risk to the community” and that throughout his life there is “no criminal record, quite the opposite.” Therefore, he begs the judge to “allow me to return as soon as possible to my family and rejoin the beloved society to which I respect and belong.”

In the five-page letter, García Luna also tells of his happy family life and the success in educating his children in American universities. He points out that “since I was a child, my parents taught me the terrible damage that drugs cause,” and that this is the origin of his “relentless” fight against criminals, and stated that “I have firm respect for the law,” and that by living In the United States “I share the values ​​of democracy, justice and human development that this country has.”

He also writes that he has been detained in the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center for 58 months “in inhumane conditions,” subject to threats, infected with Covid, and even segregated in “punishment cells.” But he has maintained, he says, good behavior and even more has dedicated himself to secondary and university education efforts for other inmates and in anti-drug programs for those accused of drug-related crimes. He regrets having lost stages in his family’s life, especially his children, as well as losing family members.

García Luna was found guilty by a jury on February 21, 2023 of all five counts of drug trafficking that revolve around the accusation that he received millions of dollars from the Sinaloa cartel in exchange for their protection when he held the positions of secretary of Public Security during the government of Felipe Calderon and as head of federal police during the six-year term of Vicente Fox.

In a few hours, the highest-ranking Mexican official on trial in the United States will know his future.

May is postponed one day

Ismael’s first preliminary hearing May Zambada before the federal judge in charge of his case, the same Judge Cogan who presided over the trials of García Luna and El Chapowas postponed by one day and is now scheduled for Friday, October 18.