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A little over a week after the trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel, the prosecution has already involved two former presidents and other senior officials in corruption cases .
Jesus "El Rey" Zambada, the youngest brother of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, another leader of the Sinaloa cartel, testified on Tuesday for his fifth and final day of testimony.
On Monday, the Zambada reported numerous bloody incidents attributed to his alleged boss, Guzman, sometimes inflicted for minor reasons, such as the refusal to shake Guzman's hand.
Zambada, Sinaloa's top cartel official until his arrest in 2008, formulated the latest high-level corruption charge Tuesday during cross-examination conducted by Guzman's defense team, who said that their client was a scapegoat for the true leader of the cartel, "El Mayo."
Zambada said the deal had twice made multi-million dollar payments to Genaro Garcia Luna, a Mexican security official.
Between 2005 and 2006, Zambada and a lawyer of his brother met Garcia Luna in a restaurant in Mexico City, according to testimonies. narrated by Victor Sancho, American correspondent of the Mexican newspaper El Universal.
At the time, Garcia Luna was head of Mexico's Federal Investigation Agency. The payment of $ 3 million was to enable him to appoint a specific official as chief of police in Culiacan, the capital of the state of Sinaloa, and the homeland of the agreement.
The official in question was "in the pocket" of "El Mayo," said Tuesday one of Guzman's lawyers.
Zambada m said he personally gave Garcia Luna the briefcase containing the money.
At the time of the other payment, in 2007, Garcia Luna was Secretary of Public Security in the government of President Felipe Calderon.
Garcia Luna got between 3 and 5 million US dollars to make sure "that he did not interfere in drug trafficking" and that "El Mayo" did not arrested, said Zambada, according to in Sancho.
Zambada also said that members of the Sinaloa cartel, including members of the Beltran Leyva organization, allies of the Sinaloa cartel until the split in the late 2000s, also raised 50 million dollars in protective funds for Garcia Luna.
"This has been said," said Zambada about the pooled money, according to in Sancho.
Calderon, who stepped down in 2012, first deployed troops en masse to Mexico to combat drug-related violence. During this administration, Garcia Luna was criticized for the soaring drug-related violence in the country.
Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations of the US Drug Enforcement Administration who had worked with Garcia Luna in the 1990s and 2000s, questioned allegations against the former Mexican official.
"I've worked with Genaro Garcia Luna for several decades and during this time we shared very sensitive information," Vigil said Tuesday.
"He never, never compromised, he would give us access to all the information they had," added Vigil.
"During the time I've worked with him," added Vigil, "he has never compromised any of our cases."
"If Jesus Christ were appointed head of the federal police in Mexico, in two weeks, he would be accused of corruption," said Vigil.
Garcia Luna was not the only official mention on Tuesday. Zambada said that in 2005, his brother had paid "a few million dollars" to a councilor of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was then Mayor of Mexico City and who will take office at the presidency of Mexico on 1 December.
The payment was made in the belief that the official would be the Secretary of Public Security if Lopez Obrador won the presidential election in 2006. (Lopez Obrador left his mayoral position in mid-2005 to run for president , losing a contested election to Calderon.)
Although the official in question was not immediately clear in court, Gabriel Regino, who was a security officer during the presidency of Lopez Obrador, denied the allegation. saying on Twitter, "It is wrong that during the performance of my public duties, I received a bribe from the trafficker Jesus Zambada."
Regino stated that his government position was "motivated"accusations against him and that he categorically denied" the statements of Zambada. m said he was ready to testify before any authority, national or foreign.
In last week's opening statement, Guzman's defense stated that "El Mayo", the Zambada, had maintained its freedom through "hundreds of millions of dollars" of bribes "at the top", especially to the current president and former presidents of Mexico. from whom denied the allegation.
Guzman's defense also said that "El Rey", Zambada, would have "paid", at the request of Mayo, the current president of Mexico, for $ 6 million or more twice in a restaurant. "
When Guzman's lawyer asked Zambada about the relationship between the official and Lopez Obrador, the prosecutors objected and Judge Brian Cogan put an end to his interrogations. according to Reuters legal reporter Brendan Pierson added that Cogan had published a "heavily redacted order"limit what the defense could ask Prosecution witnesses in cross-examination.
Cogan stated that the information obtained during a wide cross-examination would not outweigh "the protection of individuals" who were not part of the case and on "l & # 39; 39; embarrassment. " according to Alan Feuer, legal reporter at the New York Times.
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