One of the masterminds of Mexico’s militarized approach to combating organized crime was sentenced to more than 38 years in prison in the United States, although questions remain as to whether or not prosecutions of former US partners have done anything to stymie corruption south of the border.
US federal judge Brian Cogan handed down the 460-month sentence to Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former public security chief, during an October 16 hearing held in the Eastern District of New York. The sentence stems from García Luna’s conviction in February 2023 on charges he took bribes in exchange for protecting drug traffickers while serving as public security secretary from 2006 to 2012.
Judge Cogan said that aside from his “very pleasant demeanor and articulateness,” García Luna had the “same type of thuggishness as El Chapo,” the former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who was sentenced in 2019 to life in prison by the same judge.
In a handwritten letter sent the day before, García Luna asked the judge for the lightest possible sentence and to consider the “false information provided by the current government of Mexico and the criminal witnesses.”
Last month, prosecutors described in a sentencing memo how García Luna “exploited his power and authority by accepting millions of dollars” from the Sinaloa Cartel, “a drug trafficking organization he swore to pursue.”
García Luna has fiercely denied the allegations. In his sentencing memo, his defense team highlighted more than 40 national and international awards the former official received from governments around the world for his “vigilance.” This included at least eight from US government agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
García Luna was a key figure in the administration of Mexico’s former President Felipe Calderón, who launched the country’s modern “war on drugs” upon taking office in 2006. During García Luna’s trial, a number of drug traffickers testified that they routinely bribed the public security secretary in exchange for official protection at the same time that he was collaborating closely with US officials on anti-narcotics activities.
Jesús Zambada, alias “El Rey,” the brother of the recently-arrested Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael Zambada, alias “El Mayo,” said during the trial that he delivered cash payments to García Luna directly and through one of his trusted confidants, Luis Cárdenas Palomino. US authorities filed drug trafficking charges against Palomino in June 2020. He oversaw the federal police’s regional operations and worked directly under García Luna, but has yet to be captured.
“It is difficult to overstate the magnitude of [García Luna’s] crimes, the deaths and addiction he facilitated, and his betrayal of the people of Mexico and the United States,” US prosecutors said in the sentencing memo.
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García Luna’s lengthy sentence is another symbolic, yet seemingly hollow victory for the US government. Despite the high-level prosecutions of several corrupt politicians and security officials, it is unclear if holding them accountable has any kind of preventative impact.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily an inhibitor for corruption on the Mexican side,” Eunice Rendón, a security analyst and Mexican organized crime expert, told InSight Crime. “What it might do is prevent those who commit these types of crimes from going to the United States.”
After leaving public office, García Luna settled in the United States, where federal agents eventually arrested him in Texas. The following year, DEA agents arrested Mexico’s former defense minister, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, at Los Angeles’ international airport on drug trafficking charges. Those charges were quickly dismissed following a diplomatic spat between the two countries and Cienfuegos was sent back to Mexico, where he faced no criminal charges. And in 2019, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) arrested Edgar Veytia, the former attorney general of the Pacific coast state of Nayarit who later testified against García Luna, as he tried to cross the US-Mexico border in San Diego.
The sentence comes at a critical crossroads in the bilateral security relationship between the US and Mexican governments. Both García Luna’s prosecution, as well as the debacle around the Cienfuegos case, were heavily politicized in both countries. President Claudia Sheinbaum and whoever is elected US president next month will have to rebuild what became a very tense relationship under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Most recently, US authorities shut out their Mexican counterparts completely when arresting top Sinaloa Cartel leaders Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo,” and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of El Chapo.
“There has always been a distrust of US agencies … in matters of security,” said Rendón. “The DEA was one of the authorities closest to the [former] secretary, so how did they not realize, or why did they not say anything at a time when they were more involved [with him] than anyone else?”.
In addition, the prosecution of García Luna in many ways fractured Mexico’s security institutions by exposing the extent of the rot within them, according to Rendón. He is the highest-ranking Mexican official ever to be brought to justice in the United States.
“This is a story that will continue to repeat itself until Mexican security institutions are consolidated, well-organized, and well-monitored with internal and external controls,” she told InSight Crime.
*InSight Crime investigator Alex Papadovassilakis contributed reporting to this article.
Featured Image: Genaro García Luna attends a press conference in Mexico City in 2010. Credit: Marco Ugarte/AP
