Mexico’s former Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna. Photo: Google

By KELIN DILLON

Three weeks ahead of his scheduled sentencing in the United States for drug trafficking charges, Mexico’s former Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna, who has been accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, has made allegations against President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his associates that claim their involvement with Mexican drug leaders – particularly with notorious Sinaloa Cartel crime boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García.

In a newly disclosed four-page document dated Sep. 13, García Luna’s lawyer presented a handwritten letter from García Luna in which he proclaimed his innocence and asserted that the Mexican government fabricated evidence against him.

García Luna’s letter went on to implicate López Obrador with supposed ties to organized crime, alleging the existence of supporting evidence to these claims.

“It is public knowledge and is in the federal records of Mexico and the United States, the contacts, videos, audios, photographs, communication records and management between the current President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his operators with the drug trafficking leaders and their families; in particular, with the drug traffickers who were used as witnesses against me during the trial,” said the former security official.

According to information from García Luna’s trial, these witnesses included Arturo Beltrán Leyva’s right-hand man, Sergio Villarreal Barragán, Arturo Beltrán Leyva’s right-hand man, and El Mayo’s brother Jesús Reynaldo “El Rey” Zambada García.

“These witnesses even accused the president and his operators of being linked to them and drug trafficking during the trial,” continued García Luna. “These facts are corroborated by the recent capture of drug trafficker Ismael ‘Mayo Zambada’, the letter written by him where he points out the links of the current government with him and drug trafficking, the position of the Government of Mexico against the capture of the kingpin and the dismantling of the judiciary, whose main beneficiaries are the criminals.”

“These facts were confirmed by the pause-suspension of official relations between Mexico and the United States, as decreed by the current president due to the U.S. position regarding these events,” García Luna said, underlining the potential implications of these allegations.

Meanwhile, García Luna is set to receive his sentence from Judge Brian Cogan on Oct. 9.