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It could be said that two separate trials are taking place side by side these days in Room 8D of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn.
At the trial, the US government sued Joaquín Guzmán Loera, accused of being one of the world's largest drug traffickers. Widely known as El Chapo, Mr. Guzmán, prosecutors said, earned up to $ 14 billion at the head of Sinaloa's drug cartel – a fortune that he would have protected with staggering gains and an army of professional assassins.
But in a second trial, Guzmán's lawyers are essentially suing the Mexican government. According to their testimonies, the police and politicians of the country are not only corrupt, but have also conspired for years with Ismael Zambada García, the partner of Mr. Guzmán, to target El Chapo in exchange for a flood of pots. of wine.
Judge Brian M. Cogan was charged with keeping the first of these lawsuits on track and the second in check. Given the sensitivities at stake and the enormous media attention, he conducted much of the proceedings in secret.
It all began last Wednesday when the judge held a parallel conversation with the defense and the prosecution to determine whether Mr. Guzmán's lawyers should be allowed to continue their claims that Mr. Zambada was the true brain of the author. ;agreement. The defense informed the judge that Zambada's brother, Zambada García, the first principal witness of the government, would testify, if asked, of an explosive revelation: he had already received the order his brother to bribe the President of Mexico "now in office".
Although the exchange took place behind closed doors, reporters got a transcript and, on Friday night, a witness at the El Chapo trial was about to accuse a Mexican president of corruption. A complicated game began in which students in Mexican politics tried to guess which president it was from the enigmatic comments made in court.
Was it the holder Enrique Peña Nieto?
Or maybe the defense was deceived and that it actually was the president-elect: Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
When the court met again on Monday, the hearing waited in abeyance while Mr. Zambada passed the bar, cheerfully. disclose the secrets of Sinaloa's drug cartel and expose the inner workings of Mr. Guzman's operation. But even though he confessed to surprising crimes – admitting, for example, that he personally paid $ 300,000 in bribes a month, for years – he never spoke of bribery of a Mexican president.
Then Monday night, just hours before Zambada spent his last day in court, the government issued a mysterious memo that, according to its title, was intended to "prevent any cross-examination." The memo, presented under seal, outraged the defense. He also left those who were in the courtroom wondering if the story of a corrupt president would actually be told.
As soon as the court resumed on Tuesday, Judge Cogan discussed the secret memo at a second parallel conference – which was held in secret. The subject was apparently so sensitive that he immediately placed his transcript under seal.
It was only after the end of the box that Judge Cogan gave a vague explanation of what was happening.
Speaking at the hearing, he agreed with the prosecutors and would limit the questions that Mr. Guzman's lawyers could ask Mr. Zambada in cross-examination. He also stated that anything that could be learned from a broader investigation did not outweigh "the protection of persons and entities" that were not directly involved in the "investigation". and "who would be embarrassed" if Mr. Zambada was allowed to testify without
Justice Cogan never identified these "individuals and entities" and, as he sealed the transcript, the government and the defense could not discuss it. Who they were – and why they found themselves embarrassed – remains another secret.
In court Tuesday, Zambada named one of Mexico's top law enforcement officials, Genaro García Luna, as a corrupt. He said he met twice with García Luna in a restaurant and gave him a briefcase containing at least $ 3 million in cash.
Mexico has long been suffering from corruption-related unrest, and some in the country were not at all surprised that corruption stories are multiplying thousands of miles away, during the El Chapo trial in Brooklyn.
"The world could be shocked, but here, for us, it's an old news," said Fernanda Hernández, 23, a secretary in Mexico City. "Learning the nuts and bolts of corruption at the highest level is for us something that seems rather obvious to us."
The whole secret was consistent with the way the Guzmán case was handled from the beginning. In recent months, the prosecution has sent over a dozen secret letters to Judge Cogan. Many of his preliminary arguments have been in the form of sealed or redacted motions.
With the judge's permission, prosecutors have even banned courtroom artists from drawing the faces of certain witnesses to ensure their safety.
To justify these measures, the government claimed that Mr. Guzmán – who escaped twice from prison and that prosecutors ordered the deaths of thousands of people in his country – represents a unique security risk. . Prosecutors have stated that a certain level of concealment is needed to protect both witnesses and the general public.
Long before the trial began, Mr. Guzmán's lawyers complained about the secret. They criticized the repeated use by the government of private letters addressed to the judge, which they are not allowed to see, explaining that the missives prevented them from organizing an adequate defense. More than once, the lawyers described the case as "an ambush trial".
Despite their arguments, however, the secrecy has been maintained.
On Tuesday evening, a few hours after the court went out, the prosecutors sent a new note to Judge Cogan. Not surprisingly, it was under seal.
