Mexico’s extradition bid targets ex- official
MEXICO CITY — Mexico confirmed Monday that it has asked the United States to extradite former security chief Genaro García Luna, who currently faces trial in the U. S. for allegedly protecting a drug gang.
The Foreign Relations Department said the request had been formally made, but offered no details.
Mexico said previously that it prefers Mexican officials be tried in their own country, and bristled over the recent arrest of the country’s former defense secretary, whom the U. S. later turned over to Mexico.
The office of Mexico’s attorney general issued an arrest warrant for García Luna in November on charges of illegal enrichment.
García Luna served as security chief under former President Felipe Calderón from 2006 to 2012 as the leader in the government’s f ight against organized crime.
He was arrested in December 2019 in Texas and pleaded not guilty last month to drug trafficking charges, including a new one of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.
U. S. prosecutors accuse him of accepting tens of millions of dollars in bribes — often stuffed in briefcases full of cash — to shield the Sinaloa cartel from law enforcement.
In January, the former Mexican official pleaded not guilty to charges of taking part in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy and making a false statement.
It was unclear whether the Mexican officials hope to bring García Luna back before a U. S. trial or before any potential prison time there. Some previous Mexican officials were tried at home after serving a sentence in the United States.
U. S. authorities have estimated a trial there could take two or three months.
The action follows a U. S. decision to drop charges against another former top Mexican official accused of drug links, ex- Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos, and leave any prosecution up to Mexico, an extraordinary reversal that followed an intense pressure campaign from Mexico.
The day after Cienfuegos was returned to Mexico, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said that Mexico wants any trials of allegedly corrupt public officials to take place at home rather than abroad, though he distinguished the cases of Cienfuegos and García Luna, noting the latter had been a resident of the U. S.