Trial of Don Sol

This text is only a very brief summary of what I recently said about the trial of Genaro Garcia Luna, which, if all goes well, will begin today, Tuesday, January 17th. Since this long-awaited event was repeatedly postponed, anything could happen. Notwithstanding the foregoing, sooner or later this process will come to an end and a final verdict will be handed down in the case of drug trafficking charges against the former security official and the president’s right hand in security matters, who declared “war on drugs.” Jesus Calderon Hinojosa. Since then, and as part of the so-called “Merida Initiative”, today “Marco Bicentenario” begins a process that has led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people, as well as to a perverse dynamic that persists to this day through the same inertia of a securitization strategy inspired, approved and perhaps even designed (in part) by the United States and started by people today accused of drug trafficking in a neighboring country.

It is curious to understand how this conspiracy involving Mexican politicians, drug traffickers, and Mexican and US authorities was predicted in the popular Netflix and Univision series called El Chapo. But that just seems like a big coincidence, to the point that El Chapo’s trial has already taken place and the trial of the man who seems to inspire the character of Conrado Sol, i.e. Garcia Luna himself, is at hand. . It is also striking that both trials are taking place in New York under the direction of the same judge, Brian Cogan, and the same media and reporters are covering any event related to it minute by minute. Thus, the Netflix blockbuster series becomes a reality and will be directed by Judge Kogan, the various departments of Justice in charge of the process, and the media that appear to be getting (leaked) the exclusivity of the case as Vice News, which is working in partnership with Proceso magazine – perhaps to give the whole plot more “plausibility”, Mexican and vague character.

No matter how fictional it all is, it is worth trying to predict what will happen in this case in the end. And it doesn’t seem difficult, given that the US justice system for drug trafficking and other serious crimes, such as human trafficking, works consistently and predictably. This system does not necessarily work in the interests of victims of enforced disappearances, drug overdose deaths, sexual exploitation, human trafficking and other disasters, but in the interests of the security agencies themselves and programs that go far beyond the relevant court cases. After all, the rulings seem to replicate narratives that protect the interests of big capitalists such as the pharmaceutical industry, arms companies, money laundering banks, the entertainment industry, the big corporate media, and the agencies without which they try to administer justice. achieve this, but receive juicy budgets.

I have two hypotheses about what could have happened in the case of the trial of our “real” Conrado Sol, who never believed that after his great loyalty to high-ranking US officials and intelligence agencies – especially those associated with the Department of Justice, such as the Office of the fight against drugs and the FBI – will be arrested, imprisoned and put on trial. I have always been struck by his apparent brashness and cynicism when he allegedly received briefcase bribes worth several million pesos, according to Jesús “El Rey” Zambada, brother of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, El Chapo’s partner.

What surprises me the most is that he got along so well with senior security personnel and with key figures in US agencies. It is amazing that a “cynic” (Garcia Luna) was able to deceive “innocent” American officials who did not realize their evil and their connections with drug dealers, but who, in the end, dispense justice. Reality seems to trump the fiction of the Netflix series, but in some ways it seems to be inspired by them. The best El Chapo series is the one currently filming in New York and reported by Vice News and its “clamps“Mexico or the Caribbean. The latter generate a system-friendly narrative through timely leaks. So they keep us on our toes and inform (it seems) through agencies.

The first hypothesis for what might happen regarding this trial is that, finally, and after many attempts, Genaro is ready to plead guilty and negotiate a lesser sentence. This is the solution, according to the log Process, He can go from “life in prison as the maximum penalty to 20 years in prison as a minimum” if convicted, up to seven years if he finally accepts the Justice Department’s offer. This option is by no means considered unreasonable and it is surprising that the defendant has not yet succumbed to this very tempting offer.

Perhaps the above is done for the “honor” (which I frankly doubt) or for the “ego” of Garcia Luna, or perhaps it is part of the negotiation itself. However, this first hypothesis seems to me personally very likely, especially since the US government allegedly has a huge amount of evidence against Garcia Luna. The evidence mentioned could make him a maximum security prison for life and is supported by the open cases of his former employees Luis Cárdenas Palomino and Ramón Pequeño Garcia, as well as the statements of Ivan Reyes Arsate. [Ojo: los dos primeros personajes son señalados por la justicia estadounidense como parte de una conspiración para traficar droga a ese país, pero la justicia mexicana los acusa más bien de tortura por el caso “Florance Cassez”]

Several protected witnesses are also prepared [entre elloa quizás el mismísimo Edgar Valdez Villareal, alias “La Barbie”] to support the assignment, or rather in what appears to be part of the pressure to negotiate ad hoc for all parties. And it would be validad hocboth for Garcia Luna and for the US authorities, given that the latter worked very closely with the Mexican government and especially with the now accused. Striking is the international media coverage and analysis of American agencies and commentators who focus exclusively on the role of drug dealers and corrupt Mexicans, without even a hint of support for those American actors who are in the highest echelons of power and are very close to Garcia Luna, as evidenced by photographs, letters and the confessions they provided to the former secretary of public safety during the time of Felipe Calderón.

In preparation for this trial, it should be noted that U.S. Attorneys asked Judge Kogan to remove praise from high-ranking U.S. officials and politicians for Garcia Luna from the trial as part of his defense. This is not surprising, given that the US justice system does not honor the actual victims of crime, but instead protects the agendas of powerful individuals and the interests of large corporations. It has been established in numerous historic lawsuits that involve only a few people that the media and agencies turn into the only villains, the crimes actually go unpunished, and the true white-collar culprits are pardoned. This is evident in cases such as the role of drug companies in the opioid crisis and fentanyl addiction in the United States, as well as the responsibility of gun stores for drug-related deaths and the alleged war against them.

Thus, my second hypothesis does not seem implausible either. In the event that the trial of Genaro Garcia Luna does take place – which seems to me really irrational, if the former Mexican official who served as Secretary of State so decides – the final decision will be based on the testimony of protected witnesses, that is, on the statements of confessed criminals who hope to commute the sentence, and who, I think, will say whatever they want to get it, because these are criminals who have already robbed, killed and betrayed. It is extremely likely that if this happens, they will find Garcia Luna guilty, as they did with El Chapo. This will perhaps close the circle and only a few corrupt Mexicans who once held the highest positions in an underdeveloped justice system will be found guilty (eg García Luna, Reyes Arcate, Cárdenas Palomino and Pequeño García). I doubt that even the former head of Genero, i.e. former President Calderon, will be touched, but who knows.

And the media and “gringos” will continue to single out their counterparts associated with drug trafficking and “pervasive” corruption in Mexico. This reinforces the narratives created by their media and infiltrating popular culture through Netflix series. The same thing happened in the cases of human trafficking – for the purpose of sexual exploitation – by NXIVM and Ghislaine Maxwell – the main partner and accomplice of the atrocities committed by Jeffrey Epstein. Thus, members of the international elite associated with true and deep power in the world’s largest economy are being rehabilitated. This is the appalling impunity that reigns in a country that until recently was the most powerful in the world.

Only twisted villains, animated by the international press and Netflix series, end up in jail. Only those who fell out of favor and were only the most prominent leaders receive a sentence, sometimes too short for the crimes they committed. [aunque también culpables, por supuesto] huge mafias, which, due to their complexity, hide the real conspiracies of the ruling elite, operating at different levels. In the case of NXIVM, for example, what happened to characters like Emiliano Salinas Occelli or Rosa Laura Junco, children of the former President of Mexico and the owner of the Reforma newspaper (just two examples), respectively? What was the punishment in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial for Jeffrey Epstein’s top ranks—members of the true power elite? No, apparently.

In fact, the justice system in the developed world (or, as some say, in the Global North) seems like a huge farce, even more so than in the Global South. Only a few are tried and jailed, although they are guilty, they are just not very high-profile members of criminal networks that will continue to operate without these visible faces and will continue to benefit the real masterminds, such as pharmaceutical shareholders, complex industrial military and entertainment industry. As a rule, these entities launder their money in the international financial system and anonymize their capital in large investment funds.

The case of Genaro Garcia Luna is just a small example of how a system of “justice” that promotes impunity operates in the highest spheres of international politics and big business. So in hypocrisy and aberration of strategy professional criminalthe notoriety of the DEA, the trials of drug traffickers from the Global South, the use of protected witnesses and behind-the-scenes negotiations, the work of the US judiciary, a derivative of the war on drugs declared by former President Richard Nixon in the last century.

This whole spectacle, which goes beyond the scope of the Netflix series and is illustrated by the trial of the “real” Don Sol, seems to me the most grotesque. While thousands of Americans are dying of drug overdoses and suffering a huge devastating addiction to all types of drugs, while more drugs are flowing into the American Union than at any time in the history of this country, the US government is pushing for the arrest or extradition request of a Mexican drug dealer. lords to try them later and negotiate with them to arrest other drug lords. It is a never ending game that liberates the real culprits – or “big shots” – from the most heinous international crimes and allows the powers of the global South to exercise geostrategic control.