The second week of hearings in the trial against Genaro Garcia Lunaformer Secretary of Public Security, who is accused of having collaborated with the Sinaloa Cartel for more than a decade.
From being his protégé to saving him from a debt to drug traffickers: García Luna’s gifts to “Lobo Valencia”
“He told me: ‘Compadre, I present to you Genaro García Luna,” Nava Valencia declared about a meeting he had with Arturo Beltrán in Cuernavaca
On the fourth day of arguments, he took the witness stand at the Brooklyn Court Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia, alias “El Lobo”to participate as a witness against the former official.
One of his most notable statements was the alleged delivery of million-dollar bribes (which he referred to as “arrangements”) to García Luna as part of the criminal group’s agreements with the Mexican government.
Who is “El Lobo” Valencia, capo who claimed to give millions of dollars to García Luna
Óscar Orlando Nava was the leader of a criminal group and together with his brother was dedicated to the transfer of cocaine
According to his testimony, “El Lobo” —former leader of the Milenio Cartel— made a first payment to the “super policeman” in 2006 for $2.5 million as part of a collection ordered by Arturo Beltrán Leyva to the high command of the Federation (an alliance made up of cartels such as the Sinaloa, Beltrán Leyva and Juárez cartels).
The following year, “El Lobo” would have personally paid him the sum of 10 million dollars to García Luna in exchange for protection and the release of a shipment of more than 20 tons of cocaine.
The tentacles of the alliance between Genaro García Luna and the Sinaloa Cartel in the Mexican Police
From the first days of the trial against the former official, the US Attorney’s Office revealed part of the corruption network that would have been orchestrated from the high command of the security corporations
The drug had been seized by Navy personnel in Manzanillo, Colima, in which one of the largest narcotics seizures in the history of Mexico until then became known. cocaine came from Colombia and it is presumed that one half belonged to Nava Valencia and the other to Arturo Beltrán Leyva.
To avoid a collection of up to 50 million dollars by their Colombian partners, the criminal leaders would have gone to García Luna.
However, during his appearance in the Brooklyn Court, “El Lobo” was harshly questioned by the lawyers of the former Secretary of Security and confessed that in multiple talks he had with personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) between 2010 and 2020 , he had never mentioned García Luna when discussing his criminal operations.
According to what was reported by journalists Ángel Hernández and Juan Alberto Vázquez for MillenniumGarcía Luna’s legal defense asked Nava Valencia if, when previously talking about corruption in the Mexican government and its links to drug trafficking, it had never occurred to him to mention the then Secretary of Public Security.
“It is that there were issues that were not touched on in depth”was the response of the “Wolf”.
—You said that you had bribed the Secretary of Defense, Guillermo Galván Galván, but he did not remember to mention García Luna mentioned Florian Miedel, defender of the former security command.
“At that time there was no opportunity,” said “El Lobo” in an attempt not to give in to the debates of the litigant.
Other journalists who followed the trial from the Court also reported that the fear of any kind of retaliation It was another argument put forward by “El Lobo” for not having mentioned García Luna earlier during his years of collaboration with the United States government.
Of the witnesses who have participated in García Luna’s trial so far, “El Lobo” was the second who declared having personally met García Luna.
Previously, Sergio Villarreal Barragán, aka “El Grande”stated that Arturo Beltrán Leyva (who is also known as “The White Boots”) would have met with García Luna on at least 20 occasions for the alleged delivery of millionaire bribes, meetings in which he himself had been present.
Óscar Nava Valencia assumed the leadership of the Milenio Cartel after the arrest of his uncle Armando Valencia Cornelio, alias “El Juanito”, in August 2003.
“El Lobo” and his brother Juan (“El Tigre”) were in charge of planning and trafficking cocaine from various Central and South American countries that arrived at the port of Manzanillo. The collaborating witness against García Luna today was arrested in October 2009 and extradited to the US in January 2011.
Three years later, in 2014, He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his participation in the transfer of more than three tons of drugs from Panama.
