Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia, alias 'El Lobo', after his arrest in 2009. Rodolfo Angulo (Cuartoscuro)
Óscar Nava Valencia, alias
El Lobo
, is the second drug trafficker who claims to have paid bribes to Genaro García Luna.
He has declared this Monday in the trial in New York against the Secretary of Security of the Government of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012).
“I gave him cash,” said the capo, a former leader of the Milenio Cartel and a longtime ally of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“It was more than 10 million dollars,” he added.
The drug trafficker explained that Arturo Beltrán Leyva, Joaquín
El Chapo
Guzmán and Ismael
El Mayo
Zambada had a direct relationship with the former official.
"They specifically mentioned Genaro García Luna, Luis Cárdenas Palomino and Ramón Pequeño," he said about the alliances of his former collaborators with the accused and his two main accomplices, according to US authorities.
The Wolf referred to the bribes as "the arrangements."
They were payments to public officials "to have security and protection" and "to be able to traffic freely."
"We bribed the federal government," said Nava Valencia directly, who also pointed to agents of the Federal Highway Police - a defunct corporation - and politicians, although she has not mentioned any by name.
The drug trafficker explained that in the early 2000s there was an alliance known as the Federation, in which the Sinaloa Cartel achieved a partnership with the Beltrán Leyva Cartel and former members of the Juárez Cartel.
Nava Valencia worked closely with El Chapo and with Jesús
El Rey
Zambada, El Mayo's brother, with whom he coordinated shipments of cocaine from Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia to the Mexico City airport, sometimes with a stopover in Central America.
He was also particularly close to those close to Arturo Beltrán, such as Édgar Valdez Villarreal
La Barbie
and Sergio Villarreal Barragán
El Grande
, who was the first witness to testify against García Luna.
“With the help of the Government, the cartel grew in terms of territory, in the amount of drugs that we moved, and it eliminated its enemies,” Villarreal Barragán said in Brooklyn court on Monday.
'El Grande' testifies against García Luna during the trial in New York, on January 23, 2023. JANE ROSENBERG (REUTERS)
El Lobo has corroborated El Grande's statements about the systematic payment of bribes to García Luna.
Always according to this version, the first time that Nava Valencia gave money to the former official was in 2006, when Arturo Beltrán convinced several of his partners to give "a cock" or a collection.
“They told us that we had to do 'one cock' among all of us,” he said.
That down payment was $2.5 million.
Several high commands of the Federation were asked to participate such as Nacho Coronel and Juan José Esparragoza, alias
El Azul
.
"Arturo, La Barbie and all of them told us that with this we could count on Genaro García Luna," said the boss.
El Lobo, who has appeared on the stand in a prisoner's uniform, stated that in exchange for the money they hoped to "have more control over the territory," as well as help and leaks of information in the midst of a war with La Familia Michoacana, their enemies. .
The Beltrán Leyva family, Nava Valencia said, referred to the former secretary as
Licenciado
,
Compa
, or
Señor
.
"They also called him by his name, Genaro."
He also said that the relationship with the former official dates back to when he was director of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) during the Government of Vicente Fox (2000-2006).
"When he was sending people to Laredo, he sent a commander [from the AFI] to help us in the war they were having there," he declared about an alleged preferential treatment that the Sinaloa Cartel received over its rivals, the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas.
After breaking with the Sinaloa Cartel, the Valencia clan formed the Millennium Cartel, their own organization.
The group had a presence in Michoacán, Jalisco, Colima, Mexico City, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
The Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), currently Sinaloa's main rivals, are a splinter of this former organization.
Nemesio Oseguera
El Mencho
was also a member, as well as several members of Los Cuinis, one of the armed wings of the CJNG.
Nava Valencia was their leader from 2004 until October 2009, when he was captured in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, in Jalisco.
El Lobo said that he is serving a prison sentence in the United States for three drug trafficking charges until April 2025.
Nava Valencia is the ninth witness called to testify against García Luna, but he is only the second to have met him and had direct contact with him.
“What did you know about the relations that El Chapo had with government officials?” Assistant Prosecutor Marithe Diouf asked him.
"He also mentioned Genaro García Luna," replied the convict.
"And
El Mayo
Zambada mentioned something about his relations with officials?", The interrogation continued.
"To Genaro.
Garcia.
Luna”, said El Lobo, emphasizing the pauses.
García Luna is the highest-ranking former Mexican official to sit in the dock in the United States.
He faces three charges for cocaine trafficking, one for organized crime and another for false statements.
If found guilty, he faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison up to life in prison.
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