Architect of Mexico’s drug war convicted in US of trafficking
- Ex-public security minister Genaro Garcia Luna is said to have accepted millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel, once run by El Chapo
- He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a maximum of life behind bars
A once-powerful Mexican government minister was convicted by a US jury on Tuesday of aiding the very drug smuggling he was tasked with cracking down on.
Genaro Garcia Luna, public security minister under Felipe Calderon’s presidency from 2006 to 2012, was found guilty on all five counts following a high-profile trial in New York.
The month-long proceedings shone a spotlight on the corruption of the highest ranking Mexican government figure ever to face trial in the United States.
It also opened a window on the vast resources of the Sinaloa Cartel under Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is now serving a life sentence in a US prison.
01:50
Chaos as plane is caught in cartel crossfire after Mexico recaptures El Chapo’s son
Garcia Luna was convicted of receiving vast sums of money to allow the very traffickers he was tasked with clamping down on to smuggle tonnes of cocaine.