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NEW YORK.- A judge US federal warned to the defender of the Mexican drug dealer Joaquín & # 39;El ChapoGuzmán, after a first plea in which two Mexican presidents were accused of having accepted bribes.
Prosecutors at the trial asked the judge Brian Cogan rejected the initial allegation in Guzmán's trial for "the improper impeachment of inappropriate arguments, unspoken affirming defenses and inadmissible gossip".
The judge Cogan refrained from dismissing the allegation, but warned Jeffrey Lichtman, lawyer, for "being removed from direct or indirect evidence". He said that he will ask the jury to focus on the tests.
"His initial plea issued a promissory note that his case will not be charged," he said. judge and described the argument as misleading.
In his plea Tuesday, Lichtman told the jury that US prosecutors have dreamed for "decades" of condemning Guzman and added that "the world is focused on this mythical figure".El Chapo& # 39; "
Lichtman said his client was not the real leader of a cartel that had sent tons of cocaine to the United States. He tried to blame Ismael & El Mayo & # 39; Zambada, another well-known leader of the Sinaloa cartel.
Zambada is a fugitive in Mexico, Lichtman added, with bribes "reaching new heights", hundreds of millions of dollars being paid to Mexico's current president and some of his predecessors.
"This case will force them to abandon many of the notions they have been taught about the functioning and behavior of governments, particularly in South and Central America, Mexico and even the United States," Lichtman said.
"This case will force them to open their minds to the possibility that senior government officials can be bought, that they are capable of committing horrific crimes (…) and that the forces of law and order United States may also be corrupted. "
A spokesman for Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto called the charges "completely false and defamatory". Former President Felipe Calderón said that they were "absolutely false and reckless".
Guzman, in solitary confinement since his extradition to the United States early last year, pleaded not guilty to amassing a huge fortune by introducing tons of cocaine and other drugs into a vast supply chain in the far north. the United States.
& # 39;El ChapoHe was a mythical figure in Mexico who was compared to Al Capone and Robin Hood and is celebrated in ballads known as narcocorridos. He is small and his nickname means small size.
Lichtman resumed Wednesday his argument by claiming that "the myth of El Chapo" is "very strong". He added that the police officers who arrested him had asked for his autograph with 100 dollar bills.
"Mr. Guzmán took advantage of the advertising," Lichtman said. "I enjoyed the fame."
Defense counsel said the prosecution witnesses were liars seeking to reduce their own sentences. "These are people who have lied every day," he said. "They are here because they want to get out of prison anyway."
Deputy Prosecutor Adam Fels presented the case, which seeks to demonstrate thatEl ChapoFrom a small marijuana dealer in the 1970s, he became the leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, leaving a trace of violence in his rise.
Federal prosecutors say that as head of the Sinaloa cartel, Guzmán, 61, has led large shipments of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine to the United States. The defendant faces 17 counts and, if found guilty, could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
In addition to smuggling drugs into the United States, the Sinaloa cartel played a significant role in rival gang violence that ravaged parts of Mexico and challenged several governments.
More than 200,000 people have died, many in inter-cartel battles, since the Mexican government sent troops to fight drug trafficking gangs in 2006, under the administration of Felipe Calderón.
Guzmán, who twice escaped from Mexico 's maximum security prisons, was kept in solitary confinement in Manhattan and transported to the Brooklyn courthouse in a caravan with strict security measures.
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