Guilty Factory

Note: Regarding the final decision in the case of former Texas Gov. Thomas Yarrington Rubalcava, announced last week, I take and review the text I wrote, published in SinEmbargo.mx on January 9 of last year entitled “He who kills with iron, dies with iron “.

In a column published on January 2, 2022 on the OPTIMUS Informativo portal, Jorge A. Pérez, a journalist from Tamaulipas, reproduced an excerpt from a book by journalist Ricardo Ravelo entitled Oziel: The Life and Tragedy of a Capo (Grijalbo, 2009). ). In this excerpt, Ravelo recounts the contents of a phone call that Carlos Loret de Mola received on October 8, 2004, on his program “Primero Noticias” on Televisa. It was a call to Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, then leader of the Gulf Cartel (and supposed creator of the Zetas) from a “maximum security” prison on La Palma. On this occasion, the kapo, who is now imprisoned in a “high security” prison in the United States [pero que saldrá muy pronto]against the head of the then Specialized Organized Crime Investigation Directorate (SIEDO), José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, “and accused him of blackmail.” Ravelo writes about this:

“In this unusual radio and television interview, Osiel undresses Vasconcelos when he claims to have asked him to expose Thomas Yarrington, then governor of Tamaulipas.

If he didn’t want to be extradited to the US, he should have said that the Tamaulipas politician was involved in drug trafficking.

Having space on the most powerful television network, Osiel is not limited to performances. He has doubts about PGR because he says it is selective in the fight against drug trafficking and says it only fights certain groups.”

After the trial of Genaro Garcia Luna in New York, this last statement makes much more sense. No one doubts the protection of networks by the authorities of all orders in Mexico and other countries from drug trafficking. The hegemonic narrative (or “main streamreproduced by Netflix, most of the media and academia) suggests that these networks – supposedly built exclusively in developing countries – are the source of many of the diseases that plague our communities and are the most accurate explanation for the extremely high levels of violence that are reported in Mexico and in other countries of the American continent.

And everything seems to confirm this version. I took it for granted myself. How to protect the Mexican governor accused of direct connections and facilitating drug trafficking? How to doubt the links of the (former) governors of Tamaulipas with the Gulf Cartel and/or Los Zetas? How can you deny that Salvador Cienfuegos was the “Godfather”? How to deny that Genaro Garcia Luna was connected to Chapo Guzmán [incluso después de un juicio que dejó mucho que desear]? No. None of this is possible, and to think otherwise about these drug protection networks would make you an accomplice, a “chayotero” (whatever side you want to see it), a conspiracy theorist, or just a big idiot.

It is interesting, however, that in all these cases physical evidence of the crimes remains with the prosecutors, who allegedly carry out the investigation, but are not available to the general public. Moreover, most of these crimes and their motives, which are directly related to drug trafficking, which is a matter of national security for the United States, are revealed through cooperating or protected witnesses (many of them go through high-profile trials). American Union) or through judicial investigations conducted in a neighboring country. All this seems quite logical, because in our imagination drug traffickers and drug politicians of the underdeveloped world are to blame for everything, and the US authorities or intelligence agencies are the only ones who are able to restore justice and properly investigate what is happening. , drug trafficking [nótese el sarcasmo].

The curious thing is that today, more than ever, a large quantity and variety of drugs continue to flow and be conveniently distributed in “the land of the free, the home of the brave.” At the same time, US security and intelligence agencies operate and maintain a presence on the continent and beyond, managing strategic natural resources and dominating global geopolitics and geo-economics. And this is how the cartels narrative is supported in stories of drug dealers, godparents, and collaborating or patronizing witnesses. It all feels like a Netflix series, Telemundo or Amazon Prime.

Until recently, I never questioned Thomas Yarrington’s relationship with the drug dealers of the time, but the truth is that no concrete evidence of this alleged fact has ever been presented. Yarrington was initially charged with 11 federal crimes, most of which involved drug trafficking. However, as Jorge A. Perez points out in another column (now dated March 19, 2023), the South Texas Attorney’s Office was unable to prove them. The latter, according to the journalist, “for the simple and simple reason” that the accusation “was based on evidence provided personally by the government of Felipe Calderón through his Attorney General Marisela Morales.” The latter I cannot confirm; I also have no alleged evidence that the US Attorney’s Office had to charge Yarrington with various crimes related to international drug trafficking.

What is clear is that the former governor eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money. Indeed, in March 2021, Yarrington admitted to receiving more than $3.5 million in bribes, which he used to buy real estate in the US. Thus, the US government cleared him of charges of drug trafficking, extortion, etc. It was part of the negotiation, but it sort of aligns with what Oziel (with Z) said to Loret de Mola in 2004. They say you can’t trust a drug dealer or a criminal, but even then they use protected witnesses in some cases.

We will never know for sure if what Osiel said was true or not, what happened is that in the United States the former governor of Tamaulipas was not directly involved in drug trafficking and he was sentenced to only 9 years in prison. [saldrá muy pronto, considerando el tiempo que lleva preso, buena conducta y otros detalles]. Yarrington declares himself a money launderer – and here the issue of corruption is central – but he does not agree to be a drug dealer. Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos is dead. I now remember that he died in a mysterious plane crash in 2008 (which also killed then Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourinho) when Felipe Calderón Hinojosa was President and Genaro García Luna was Minister of Public Security. I also remember how angry Garcia Luna got when I asked him about these “accidents”.

“how is it possible that all these key officials died in plane crashes? Don’t you think this is strange? It seems strange to me.

And then Genaro, obviously annoyed, said the following:

Three plane crashes were just accidents. We found the plane smashed to pieces, the bodies covered in mud. We’re going to analyze with evidence, not speculation. I give you proof. And if you don’t trust me, then the conversation is over…”

(The Five Lives of Genaro Garcia Luna, College of Mexico, 2021, p. 55)

By the way, in the present context and after the trial of Garcia Luna in the USA [quien tiene también orden de aprehensión en México por presunto tráfico de armas en la operación “Rápido y Furioso”]I recommend reading the book about this character that I co-wrote with Tony Payan and which I quote above. I think you can find a lot of interesting details there. The passage of aircraft accidents seems curious to me, and I think that for some it may be relevant.

In the case of Thomas Yarrington, besides RIP Vasconcelos, the former Attorney General of the Republic, Marisela Morales Ibáñez and Irving Barrios Mojica, are the last key player in the famous Michoacanaso, the author of the so-called Tamaulipazo. — seems to know too much and is accused by many of allegedly fabricating numerous crimes as Attorney General of Tamaulipas. Barrios Mojica and her former boss have been cited several times for allegedly integrating evidence fabrication files. For example, the official complaint of former Federal Police Commissioner Javier Herrera Vallés stands out, who accused the “dynamic duo” of manipulating witnesses and sloppily integrating the preliminary investigation, for which he was unjustly imprisoned for four years. [por cargos de delincuencia organizada que nunca se pudieron comprobar].

It should be noted that Herrera Valles gave former President Calderón two letters in which he exposed possible acts of corruption committed by Genaro García Luna himself. On the other hand, in the case of former Tamaulipas Governor Jorge A. Pérez says that “the case brought to Brownsville by Marisela Morales turned out to be a fabrication based on protected witnesses in Mexico who were used for many different cases; Michoacán politicians, army generals, federal police middle managers, etc.

Thus, it seems that key officials from past administrations – and especially from Calderonism – have a good track record of fabricating culprits. Osiel accused Vasconcelos of causing him to falsely accuse Yarrington. Garcia Luna became famous for his set-ups, revenge and many other scandals about this. The Morales-Barrios duo have made this practice, according to many, their method of action in securing injustice. The numerous cases that former PAN Governor Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca was allegedly assigned to his new Attorney General are memorable and well-documented across various platforms and sources. [ya hemos hablado de escandalosos casos particulares en columnas anteriores]. On the other hand, on the other side of the border, the cases of Genaro Garcia Luna and Salvador Cienfuegos Cepeda are puzzling due to the lack of physical evidence. [accesibles al público] who support the accusations of prosecutors and selected witnesses.

It’s interesting how some characters who are experts in set-ups and arbitrary arrests are now in jail, facing serious issues, or in trouble with the law. Most revealing is the case of Genaro Garcia Luna, who was found guilty by a jury in New York based solely on the sworn testimony of cooperating and protected witnesses. And although there is plenty of evidence for what was allegedly said, we could not palpate absolutely not a single one.

It takes a lot of cynicism, a lot of courage, and no remorse to fabricate the culprits. But they say that karma exists and that divine justice comes sooner or later. They say that “he who kills with iron, dies with iron” in the literal or figurative sense. The names Vasconcelos or Garcia Luna come to mind. Who is next? Let’s remember that Morales Ibanez and Irving Barrios Mojica didn’t (or didn’t) act alone; They worked (or are working) under someone else’s command. That is why the names Calderón and Garcia Cabeza de Vaca haunt us.