The former Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna, faces the sentence against him tomorrow in a federal court in New York after being found guilty of charges of drug trafficking, links to organized crime and false testimony before the US authorities.
García Luna, whose sentence could even reach life imprisonment, will appear before the court for the Eastern District of New York dressed in civilian clothes and will have the right to transmit a final public message where he is expected to reaffirm the hypothesis that he is a victim. of a plot against him.
This day, the eve of his sentencing, a new letter was released in which the former Mexican official asks Judge Cogan for clemency.
“Your honor, with the deepest of my feelings, I respectfully request that you allow me to return as soon as possible to my family and rejoin the beloved society to which I respect and belong,” according to the letter spread on social networks by journalist Arturo Angel.
“Your honor, as I indicated, I have firm respect for the law, I respectfully ask for your consideration so that within the framework of this sentence all the factors that gave rise to this trial are considered, among others the false information provided by the 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.
“I have never been a threat or risk to the community, my values, convictions, conduct and life history do not have any criminal record, quite the opposite. Dirty money, bad habits, bad behavior cannot be hidden even in extreme conditions,” García Luna wrote.
The Secretary of Public Security also stated in the letter that within the highest scale of his responsibilities he was a repository of information classified as secret and national security between the United States and Mexico, so having criminal ties is inconceivable.
“I had the personal and professional opportunity to share countless official tasks at the highest level of security for both countries with senior professionals from the intelligence and security areas of the United States; unthinkable to have that level of responsibility, State information and hemispheric regional security, subject to levels of control and surveillance of the highest level; and at the same time having contact or ties with criminals for profit, are totally inconceivable dimensions, out of reality,” he explained.
García Luna also attacked former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador for the judicial reform that he carried out at the end of his administration, he even said that after the changes to the Constitution they seek to imprison those who, like him, fought against drug trafficking.
“My country is suffering a great upheaval, by order of the current president of Mexico The country’s Judicial Power has just been dismantled (judges, magistrates, ministers, court), they are seeking to imprison those of us who fight their political allies linked to drug trafficking, Mexico is entering a very dangerous stage,” according to the letter. .
Read: García Luna has already ‘accepted his guilt’ by asking the judge for a 20-year sentence: AMLO
The former official, who was arrested in December 2019 in Dallas, Texas, had previously headed the Federal Investigation Agency, whose main objective was to fight criminal organizations, during the Government of Vicente Fox.
The Prosecutor’s Office has asked the judge in the case, Brian Cogan, to impose on García Luna the maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of $5 million, while the defense requested a sentence of 20 years.
The one who was in charge of leading ‘the war against drugs’ in Mexico will have the opportunity to issue a message to the court this Wednesday and could wear civilian clothes instead of the orange prisoner’s suit when he goes to court.
The person in charge of handing down the sentence against García Luna will be Judge Cogan, who already sentenced ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán to life imprisonment in 2019 and will lead the trial against the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada.
In fact, ‘El Mayo’ will have a new hearing this Friday in that same federal court after being charged with 17 charges that could lead to life imprisonment or even the death penalty if he goes to trial.
Read: García Luna’s conviction should be based on evidence and not divert attention: Sheinbaum
García Luna, whose sentence has been postponed five times, reiterated his innocence in a letter made public by his lawyer weeks ago, in which he denounced that he suffered retaliation from the New York Prosecutor’s Office for not accepting a plea deal in 2019.
The Mexican is thus awaiting his sentence in a federal prison in Brooklyn, where other well-known inmates such as ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and former cryptocurrency magnate Sam Bankman-Fried are also detained.
With information from EFE
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