García Luna was once hailed as a leading figure in Mexico’s war against drug cartels, but in February 2023 a court convicted him of collaborating with them. According to the court, he took bribes in the amount of millions of dollars from the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.
Fifty-six-year-old García Luna denies the indictment, which he repeated on Wednesday before a federal judge in Brooklyn. He said his case is based on false information from criminals and the Mexican government. “I have a firm respect for the law,” he said in Spanish, according to the AP agency. “I did not commit these crimes,” he added.
García Luna managed the Mexican security forces from 2006 to 2012 and previously also held important security posts. García Luna lived in the USA since 2012, he was arrested in December 2019. Prosecutors demanded a life sentence for him. According to the AP agency, García Luna is the highest-ranking Mexican government politician who has been convicted in the US.
