( Spanish) – When Judge Brian Cogan sentenced the former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico, Genaro García Luna, to 460 months in prison (more than 38 years in prison), a fine of US$ 2 million and five years of probation, he spoke of a “ double life” of the former Mexican official and compared him to the former head of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Wearing a blue suit, white shirt and striped purple tie, García Luna entered the New York court on Wednesday afternoon. In a special request to Cogan, García Luna had asked to appear in civilian clothes and not in prison clothing. The judge authorized that request.
Upon entering the room, he sent a kiss to his family, who was watching everything attentively. He was able to speak once again before the judge and, to a large extent, reiterated what he had already said in the letter sent on Tuesday, in which he had asked for leniency when talking about his family and the importance of his values.
García Luna highlighted his good behavior and performance in the Brooklyn prison, the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC). A place where, despite being known as “hell on earth” for its poor conditions, he says he has worked and contributed to its improvement.
Although he acknowledged that it was not the time to claim his innocence, he directly mentioned his country and his family, and assured: “I am innocent, I have not committed the crimes of which I am accused.”
“And that is why I ask you, Mr. Judge, to allow me to return as soon as possible to my family and rejoin the society that I admire and respect,” García Luna said.
His defender, lawyer César de Castro, had requested the minimum possible sentence: 20 years in prison. He argued the request by pointing out that his client had behaved “with integrity” in prison, where he had earned the trust and respect of the prison guards and other prisoners, something he considered unusual.
On repeated occasions, De Castro asked the room the question of why 20 years could not be enough for García Luna, a 56-year-old man who “the only thing he has left is his family” because “he has lost everything.”
The lawyer even highlighted that, once the sentence was served in the United States, García Luna was going to have to face the same charges in Mexico, because he would be deported.
His wife Linda Pereyra and two of his children were present in court Wednesday. Another of his sons, Genaro, was absent because he is sick with covid.
With tears in his eyes, Pereyra told after the conviction that they will appeal the sentence. “We are going to continue fighting,” he stated.
Prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy, who handled the case, said that whoever “takes a life deserves life in prison,” and blamed García Luna for “hundreds of thousands of deaths” in the United States and Mexico, which she attributed to him for having “supported , helped and worked” for the Sinaloa cartel.
Komatireddy was blunt when considering that the Sinaloa cartel would not exist as such if it were not for the former official. In addition, he compared the former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico with Chapo Guzmán: he said that he is even “worse” because “he allowed someone like Chapo to exist.”
When handing down the sentence, the judge agreed with the comparisons with Guzmán and considered that what the former secretary did was “live a double life,” in which he “hid behind a clean image” to commit illegalities.
Cogan said García Luna may be “more educated and eloquent than Chapo Guzman, but he is just as criminal.”
In that alleged duality that Cogan mentioned, he recognized the good side that García Luna referred to in his letters: his family life and his behavior in prison. And it is for that reason that, as he said, he decided to sentence him to just over 38 years and not life imprisonment and thus give him, according to the judge, “a light at the end of the tunnel.”
García Luna’s lawyer: He is not that man the judge described, with a double life
Judge Cogan also said that he has “no confidence” in the financial situation that García Luna declared that he had when he said that he has no money.
Speaking after the sentencing, De Castro said that although he has “immense respect for Judge Cogan,” he disagrees with the way he described his client. He assured that Genaro García Luna “is not the person described by the witnesses” and that he did not live “a double life.”
The lawyer stressed that they maintain their innocence and that they asked the judge to transfer García Luna to a prison near Washington. The magistrate said he would take that request into consideration.
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