Former Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna accused of participating in ongoing criminal enterprise

Former Secretary of Security of Mexico will remain in jail 1:06

(CNN Spanish) - The US Department of Justice accused the former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico, Genaro García Luna, on Thursday of participating in a continuous criminal enterprise that would have allowed the cartel to operate with impunity for more than a decade. Sinaloa under the command of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

In a statement, the US Department of Justice announced that the charges had been accepted in federal court in New York and that two other former officials who worked for García Luna, identified as Luis Cárdenas Palomino and Ramón Pequeño García, were charged. three counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine.

"In exchange for gifts valued in millions of dollars, the accused allegedly allowed the Sinaloa cartel to operate with impunity in Mexico," the department explained.

Several federal agents arrested García Luna in Dallas in 2009. Cárdenas and Pequeno remain at large.

CNN contacted the lawyer of the former Mexican official, a public defender, who in January said that García Luna did not have the funds to pay the costs of his legal defense because the Mexican government had frozen his bank accounts, although he could not demonstrate that. argument. No response has been received so far.

According to the Department of Justice, García Luna - who headed the Federal Investigation Agency of Mexico between 2001 and 2005 and later was secretary of Public Security between 2006 and 2012 - gave information on investigations against the cartel by the agencies and even on cartels rivals to the Sinaloa group. It would also have facilitated the transfer of tons of drugs to the United States.

In March, García Luna pleaded not guilty to four counts of drug trafficking, accepting bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, and making false statements to the authorities, charges that were then made.

If found guilty, García Luna could face a sentence of between 20 years and life in prison, according to US authorities.

Genaro García Luna