All the news about drug trafficking in Mexico is happening in the United States. The Attorney General’s Office of the Eastern District of New York requested this Thursday that Genaro García Luna, the anti-drug czar of the Felipe Calderón government, be sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of five million dollars for the crimes of cocaine trafficking, organized crime and false statements on October 9. Ismael is expected to be sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of five million dollars for the crimes of cocaine trafficking, organized crime and false statements on October 9. The May Zambada steps into that same court and appears before the same judge three weeks later, on October 31. Three hundred kilometers to the south, in Washington, a jury is already deliberating on the verdict of Rubén Oseguera. The Menchitoson of Nemesio Oseguera The Menchothe leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. And before the end of this month, Ovidio Guzmán, El Chapo’s son, is due to appear in court in Chicago, after weeks of speculation about his whereabouts. While the judicial offensive advances on several fronts in US territory, Sinaloa has been burning for 10 days, caught in the worst cartel war in more than a decade. Andrés Manuel López Obrador affirmed that the US is “jointly responsible” for the wave of violence that is ravaging the State, a historic bastion of the Sinaloa Cartel, for taking its attempts to capture El Mayo to the bitter end.
“It is difficult to overstate the magnitude of the defendant’s crimes, the deaths and addictions he facilitated, and his betrayal of the people of Mexico and the United States,” reads the latest memo sent by prosecutors in the case against García Luna, former Secretary of Public Security and architect of the war on drugs. “His crimes demand justice,” the prosecution adds to convince the judge that the former official should spend the rest of his life in prison. This week, his lawyers made public a letter accusing López Obrador of having ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and pushing judicial reform to “benefit criminals.” García Luna also revealed that U.S. authorities offered him a reduced sentence in exchange for snitching on other Mexican politicians and businessmen, which has reignited the debate about a possible negotiation after his sentencing.
López Obrador said that the former official’s letter, his first public statement in his own handwriting since he was found guilty in February of last year, is a sign of “desperation” and demanded that he present evidence to support the accusations against him. The confrontation between the president and the former secretary was reactivated in light of the approaching sentencing hearing in the Brooklyn court, with an exchange of statements that took García Luna’s defense by surprise, who has had little contact with his client in recent months. His lawyers have announced that they will appeal the sentence, which will be a minimum of 20 years in prison.
The fall of García Luna, the highest-ranking former Mexican official to ever set foot in a U.S. court, has gained attention for its symbolism, but it is not the front that most worries the López Obrador government. The unexpected capture of El Mayo on July 25 in New Mexico continues to make waves south of the border, with an open confrontation between Zambada’s people and Los Chapitos for control of the Sinaloa Cartel that has sown chaos in Culiacán and other surrounding municipalities. Around 50 people have been killed in the last two weeks and dozens more have been arrested, injured and disappeared, according to official figures. Revenge for the betrayal that led to the arrest of the 76-year-old boss came five weeks late and now no one, neither authorities nor analysts nor residents, dares to give a forecast of when the violence will end.
The president refuses to acknowledge the extent of the latest fracture of the Sinaloa Cartel, but the terror that reigns in the State has led him to air the biggest claim he has made against the US government since the capture of El Mayo. “An explanation is required, because if we are now facing a situation of instability and confrontation in Sinaloa, it is because they made that decision, and we do not agree that Mexico should be ignored because we have the problem here,” said the president. “It was totally illegal,” said the president about the arrest of Zambada. “How does it help to stop the drug addiction problem in the United States?” he questioned about Washington’s strategy against the leaders of the cartels, which has failed to stop drug flows for decades, but is still in vogue. “How is it that we never know that there are famous cartels and bosses in the United States?” he concluded about the pressures on Mexico at the bilateral security table.
López Obrador also questioned the plea deals the United States has promoted to bring down big bosses. The trial against El Menchito has been a parade of former allies and enemies ready to testify about his meteoric rise in the Jalisco Cartel, his corrupt dealings to avoid the law and his extensive record in the shadow of his father, despite the fact that he is only 34 years old. The trial against García Luna saw almost thirty witnesses take the stand, including more than a dozen convicted criminals. Mexico’s eyes are on Ovidio Guzmán and his brother Joaquín Guzmán López, who established contacts for years with different U.S. agencies to negotiate a surrender and are the main suspects of orchestrating El Mayo’s handover, according to Mexican authorities. “They made a deal and they didn’t inform us,” the president said, stressing that the United States has not been transparent about Zambada’s arrest and responding to questions about its security policy, which is viewed with skepticism in both countries.
The latest controversy aside, the underlying question is whether both countries have the capacity to maintain a common agenda against organized crime. The López Obrador government has pushed for equal treatment and an admission of co-responsibility in the drug trafficking phenomenon. The Joe Biden administration has conceded the former, understanding the need to have Mexico as an ally to contain migration and drug trafficking, but the predominant focus in the war on drugs continues to base its most visible efforts on ending supply, with virtually no mention of demand. Meanwhile, the fentanyl epidemic claims tens of thousands of American lives every year.
“We are also interested in keeping fentanyl from reaching the United States, but the United States has to do its part, we have to do our part in our country, and coordinate, collaborate,” said Claudia Sheinbaum, the president-elect. The latest disagreement between the two countries comes less than two weeks after the change of government in Mexico and a month and a half before Americans go to the polls. And the contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be decisive, whether it be to turn to more heavy-handed policies that stir up trouble again or to repair the channels that have been broken and make a last attempt at collaboration. Meanwhile, Sinaloa is holding its breath.
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