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García Luna: from fighting drug trafficking to alleged drug trafficker 1:33
(CNN Spanish) - The former secretary of Public Security of Mexico, Genaro García Luna, will remain in prison in the United States where he is accused of four charges of drug trafficking, accepting bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel and giving false statements to the authorities.
This was decided by judge Ramón E. Reyes on Tuesday through a telephone hearing.
García Luna has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
- Lawyer of Genaro García Luna, former Secretary of Security of Mexico, says that he has no way to pay for his defense
César de Castro, García Luna's lawyer, asked that his defendant be released temporarily due to the dangers to his health of being in prison during the coronavirus pandemic and the outbreak that affects New York City, where he remains detained.
However, the Prosecutor's Office argued that García Luna's medical conditions do not put him within the category of patients at risk and that, in addition, they have ensured that in the detention center where the former secretary is being held, he has sanitary measures such as access to soap and disinfectant.
García Luna's defense rejected these arguments and cited the multiple obstacles New York City faces in containing the outbreak of the infection.
- They arrest in the USA former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico Genaro García Luna
On the other hand, prosecutor Ryan Harris said that a bail and temporary release of García Luna represents an imminent risk since he believes that the former secretary could escape very quickly and safely. Harris argued that García Luna's ties to the Sinaloa and Mexico Cartel make it very difficult to trust that he will not flee the country.
Despite the defense's efforts, the judge rejected the bail request. García Luna will be held in custody at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center pending the next hearing at his trial.
García Luna was Mexico's secretary of Public Security between 2006 and 2012, when he moved to live in Florida. He was arrested on December 10 in Texas and then transferred to New York.
Genaro García Luna