Former Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna has challenged the sentence of 38 years in prison and a fine of two million dollars that a United States judge imposed on him in 2024 for collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel during the exercise of his functions as a public servant, during the six-year term of PAN president Felipe Calderón (2006-2012). The former official’s defense argues that there were serious violations of due process committed by the prosecutors and the judge in the case, Brian Cogan, mainly due to the fact that false statements from witnesses without credibility were validated. García Luna’s lawyers maintain that these failures irreparably contaminated the process, which is why they ask that the trial be annulled and restarted. “The sentence imposed on García Luna was procedural and substantially unreasonable, it was based on erroneous information and was surprisingly greater than what was necessary to satisfy the purposes of the sentence,” indicates the challenge document, which was presented this Friday. Millennium and to which EL PAÍS has had access.
García Luna’s appeal, presented by lawyer Cesar de Castro in the New York Court of Appeals, maintains that at least two of the most important collaborating witnesses of the Prosecutor’s Office made false incriminating statements, which could be distorted with evidence that was ultimately not taken into account. One of the testimonies was that of Francisco Cañedo Zavaleta, a former agent of the Ministry of Public Security (SSP), headed by García Luna, who declared that he had witnessed, in October 2008, the alleged kidnapping of the former official by the Beltrán Leyva cartel on the highway to Cuernavaca, in retaliation for his collaboration with the Joaquín cartel. El Chapo Guzmán, who paid him millionaire bribes in exchange.
According to the former secretary’s defense, other witnesses contradicted Zavaleta’s statement: some spoke of the kidnapping, but at another point; others, that the cartels were not involved; one more even denied the presence of the former secretary. The appeal points out, however, that the most important thing is that there is evidence that, on the same day and at the time that Zavaleta places him at the place of kidnapping, García Luna was in a hospital paying the bill for a service provided to his wife. Another document relevant to the defense is a record from the ISSSTE—the social security service for public officials—which shows that Zavaleta was not even an SSP employee at the time of the alleged kidnapping.
Another witness whose statement questions García Luna’s defense is Héctor Villarreal, former Secretary of Finance of Coahuila during the Government of Rubén Moreira, of the PRI. Villarreal stated that the former secretary took him to visit the facilities of the National Intelligence Center, known as El Búnker, at the headquarters of the Federal Police under his command. Villarreal pointed out that, during that visit, which occurred in June 2009, García Luna presented him with the Pegasus program, used by the Government for intelligence work against crime, and even to spy on journalists and opponents. According to Villarreal, the former official’s intention was for Coahuila to buy the software. García Luna’s defense alleges that El Búnker did not exist at that time (since it was built in November 2009) and that Pegasus had not even been developed (it was created in 2010, and Mexico bought it a year later).
The former official’s defense accuses other procedural flaws, such as the fact that Judge Cogan allowed during the trial the display – unrelated to the case – of properties that evidenced García Luna’s assets, which created a bad impression of the jury about the accused. “This evidence was highly prejudicial and led the jury to infer his guilt,” the appeal reads. The lawyers add that, in addition, the Prosecutor’s Office advantageously used a testimony from Villarreal in which he described in a general way “how corruption works in Mexico” and spoke of “corrupt politicians.” “Despite not being able to link any of García Luna’s property to the conspiracy, the Government used Villarreal’s testimony to explain how politicians hide their money and launder it,” the letter says.
A central part of the appeal is directed at the quality of the witnesses used by the Prosecutor’s Office to obtain testimonies against the former Secretary of Security, several of them leaders in the Sinaloa Cartel or the Beltrán Leyva. García Luna’s lawyers highlight the efforts of the Prosecutor’s Office to convince the jury to set aside the crimes committed by the bosses. Furthermore, they allege that they were not given the opportunity to verify or confront the statements of these collaborating witnesses, in order to verify their credibility. For example, they point out, Villarreal was accused in another trial of having continued committing crimes while collaborating as a Government witness.
As a correlate, the appeal describes García Luna as a “trustworthy and loyal partner of the United States” in the fight against the cartels. He adds that the former official was certified by the security and intelligence agencies of that country, and highlights the fact that he was accused and sentenced based on testimonies of nine cartel bosses who were arrested and extradited to the United States under his management at the SSP. The defense adds that, in the statement given by former ambassador Anthony Wayne, he denied that Washington had any indication that García Luna was corrupt.
The lawyers also claim that, in other similar trials where high-level officials have been convicted of drug trafficking, the sentences are not as high. They affirm that García Luna’s sentence is “disproportionate” taking into account that he is in his almost sixties (he is 57 years old) and that he had exemplary conduct in prison during the time he was held before the trial. That of García Luna has been one of the most explosive cases in recent years, since no former Mexican official of the same level had been prosecuted for corruption and organized crime. His connection with former President Calderón and the PAN fueled a major political coup in Mexico. Found guilty in 2024, García Luna is about to serve just two years of his long sentence.
For more updates, visit our homepage: NewsTimesWire
