'Architect' of Mexico's War on Drugs Had a Big Secret

As Mexico's top public safety official, Genaro García Luna was tasked with tracking down and stopping drug cartels. In fact, he was "widely considered the architect of Mexico's war on drugs," per the BBC. He didn't quite fulfill the role. On Tuesday, the highest-ranking Mexican official ever to be tried in the US was convicted in New York federal court of taking millions of dollars in bribes from cartels in exchange for favors—like turning a blind eye to cocaine shipments, tipoffs about upcoming raids, and raids on rival cartels, per the AP. Several former drug traffickers testified that García Luna, who led Mexico's federal police before serving as public security secretary from 2006 to 2012, was on the payroll of the most powerful Sinaloa Cartel, NPR reports.

Pointing to a lack of a physical evidence, García Luna's lawyers claimed "these killers, torturers, fraudsters, and epic narcotics traffickers" were lying in an attempt to have their own sentences reduced, per the AP. Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón also issued a rebuttal after the court heard a secondhand claim that he'd worked to shield Sinaloa kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán against a rival. In denying the claim, Calderón suggested Washington investigate its own law enforcement and intelligence officials who worked with García Luna to stem the flow of drugs into the US. One former smuggler said García Luna had shared information from US law enforcement on a massive cocaine shipment seized in Mexico, per the AP.

Another said $3 million was exchanged as García Luna and another top police official met with Guzman's associates and promised to "stand with us." He was "the best investment they had," a former Mexican federal police officer who later worked on behalf of cartels said during the four-week trial. "We had absolutely no problems with our activities." A jury deliberated for three days before convicting the former lawman now wanted in Mexico for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise—which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years, up to life in prison—and trafficking in cocaine. The 54-year-old, who moved to the US in 2012 and was arrested after he was implicated in testimony from Guzman's 2019 trial, is due to be sentenced June 27. (More Sinaloa drug cartel stories.)