On Thursday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) stressed that U.S. authorities must testify about their links in the case against Mexican Former Security Secretary Genaro Garcia-Luna, who currently faces a trial for accepting millionaire bribes from the Sinaloa drug cartel.
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"The U.S. trial against Garcia-Luna should determine to what extent U.S. agents and officials were involved in the case," AMLO stated, arguing that Garcia-Luna may have handed part of the bribes out to U.S. agents to guarantee safeness for the Sinaloa cartel's operations.
In exchange for such bribes, Garcia-Luna provided the Sinaloa cartel with safe passage for their drug shipments and confidential information on the cartel and its rival organizations.
After leaving office in 2012, Garcia-Luna continued to benefit from bribes, even after moving to the United States, where he was arrested in 2019. His defense, however, alleges that the money he earned in this period was due to legitimate business.
"By common sense, I would wonder how someone can get so much money in such a short time," Lopez Obrador said.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Brooklyn federal court initiated the trial against Garcia-Luna, whose indictment stemmed from the judicial process against the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019 in the same court.
A former member of that cartel declared that he had delivered bags to Garcia-Luna with at least US$6 million in cash in 2005, 2006, and 2007. If this statement is proven, the former Mexican official could face a life imprisonment sentence.