Why the Drug War Can’t Be WonCartel Corruption Goes All the Way to the Top – The Daily Beast

CALI, ColombiaMexicos former security minister, who also masterminded that countrys war against the cartels, was arrested last Monday by U.S. officials in Dallas, Texas.

Genaro Garca Luna stands accused by the U.S. attorney general of accepting millions of dollars from Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn while serving as the countrys crime czar.

Thats like Al Capone bribing J. Edgar Hoover to keep the FBI off his back.

When then-President Felipe Caldern chose to militarize Mexicos fight against organized crime, he tasked Luna with drafting the strategy. An engineer by training, and having never served in the armed forces or law enforcement, Luna drafted a controversial plan that involved deploying the Mexican Army across the country to fight the cartels.

While Luna allegedly got rich taking bribes from El Chapo, tens of thousands died in the ongoing violence, with 2019 set to be the worst year on record. Luna is also wanted in Mexico for his crimes.

Court documents unsealed this week in Brooklyn revealed the allegations, which include conspiracy to traffic cocaine. Hes also charged with lying about his criminal background when he applied for naturalization in the U.S.

Prosecutors say that on two occasions Luna accepted suitcases full of cash containing about $5 million each. In exchange, he provided Chapo's syndicate with security and access for shipping drugs into the U.S., as well as intel on official investigations and the doings of rival cartels.

The whiff of narco gangrene isnt limited to Mexico.

Luna has maintained his innocence, referring to the allegations when they first surfaced as: "Lies, defamation and perjury."

According to U.S. prosecutors, Lunas assistance allowed El Chapos Sinaloa Cartel to conduct business with impunity in Mexico for more than a decade.

The arrest of Garca Luna highlights just how significant of a challenge Mexican president Manuel Lpez Obrador faces in rooting out corruption among government officials, wrote Maureen Meyer, the Mexico director at the Washington Office on Latin America.

The sole fact that cases like Luna's are being heard in the U.S. and not Mexico points to significant weaknesses in Mexicos criminal justice institutions, and how political influence has tainted investigations for far too long.

Think about it: The presidents right-hand man was working with the countrys largest mafia.

Investigative Journalist Emmanuel Gallardo

Mexican journalist Emmanuel Gallardo, who specializes in covering the cartels, said this was indicative of a larger pattern in Mexico, in which the drug war is a farce waged against peasants while wealthy businessmen and politicians profit on the side.

Think about it: The presidents right-hand man was working with the countrys largest mafia. This is another example which shows the narcos can exist only because the state allows them to, Gallardo said.

This proves the corruption goes all the way to the top of the Mexican government.

A Strong Incentive for Collusion

If this were but an isolated incident, it would still be an outrageous scandal. But, sadly, corruption like Lunas has become a common feature of the drug war in Mexico and much of Latin America.

Official statistics are hard to come by. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued a report in 2017 that indicates further study into the link between drug trafficking and corruption is needed. But one stat in the report stands out: In low-income countries the percentage of public officials, judges, and police officers taking bribes can exceed 50 percent.

And the anecdotal evidence suggests that, as with Secretary Luna, the drug war rot goes straight to the top in many countries.

Long considered one of the most corrupt countries in the Americas by groups like Transparency International, Mexico has been rocked by a number of high-profile corruption cases of late. Public figures like athletes, musicians, and a string of wealthy state governors have all been implicated. And recent accusations similar to those that brought down Luna have also surfaced against former president Enrique Pea Nieto (more on that later). But the whiff of narco gangrene isnt limited to Mexico.

Organized crime is much harder to fight than an insurgency or terrorist group. ... Youre fighting an enemy whose main mode of operation is to corrupt and penetrate [your allies].

Adam Isacson, Washington Office on Latin America

Last June, a Brazilian military officer traveling as part of President Jair Bolsonaros official G20 delegation was arrested in Spain for attempting to ferry 39 kilos (about 86 pounds) of cocaine in his suitcase. Earlier this year, Colombias National Director of Anti-Corruption was busted in a DEA sting in Miami after he attempted to solicit a bribe in exchange for sabotaging an investigation into another corrupt official. Also in Colombia, an unrelated DEA agent was rolled up for attempting to commit deceit, craft, and trickery on behalf of a drug lord who had plied him with cash and prostitutes.

The cartels are powerful and dangerous, and the probability of punishment for cooperating with them is still too low. That creates a strong incentive for officials to tolerate or collude with criminals, said Adam Isacson, a colleague of Meyers, and the director of WOLAs Defense Oversight program.

Welcome to the Narco-State

The Central American nation of Honduras is perhaps the most striking example of the tendency toward criminal collusion among Americas ostensible drug war allies. After the democratically elected president was ousted in a military coup in 2009, the country became home to one of the highest homicide rates on earth. Its also a major way station for drugs passing from South America to Mexico and the U.S.

In August of this year, a 44-page document filed by prosecutors in New Yorks Southern District Court identified Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernndez and former President Pepe Loboalong with other prominent politicians and family membersas co-conspirators in a plot to leverage drug trafficking to maintain and enhance their political power."

Prosecutors in that case also alleged that some $1.5 million of drug money was used to help Hernndez win the presidency in 2013. His re-election in 2017 was also tainted with charges of tampering, though the Trump administration chose to look the other way. Also in 2017, ex-President Lobos son was sentenced to more than two decades in U.S. federal prison for cocaine trafficking.

Honduras descent into a full-fledged narco-state is all the more worrisome given its long history as one of the White Houses staunchest allies in the war on drugs, and the recipient of millions of dollars in controversial military and security assistance.

Grahame Russell, director of the US-based NGO Rights Action, which maintains a full-time presence in Honduras, criticized Washington for ignoring all those mis-spent tax dollars:

President Hernndez, many government officials, military and police officers have been implicated in or charged with drug trafficking and money laundering, Russell told The Daily Beast. Yet there has been no change whatsoever in the political, economic and military support that the Honduras regime receives from the U.S.

The same could be said of Mexico, which has received almost $3 billion to fight the drug war over the last 12 years, regardless of human rights violations and corruption charges accrued during that span.

Russell said the lack of oversight by the White House actually empowers greed-driven elites in Latn America, and accused the Trump administration of being willing to maintain relations with governmentsno matter how corrupt, anti-democratic or repressivethat promote the interests of international corporations, investors and banks.

WOLAs Isacson agreed that graft has led to America keeping some strange, drug-war bedfellows.

U.S. administrations need to be much more careful about who their friends are in the struggle against organized crime, he said.

Organized crime is much harder to fight than an insurgency or terrorist group because youre fighting an enemy whose main mode of operation is to corrupt and penetrate [your allies]. Any U.S. strategy that loses sight of high-level corruption is doomed to failure.

A Politician Whos Poor is a Poor Politician

U.S. prosecutors first got wind of what Luna had been up to during Chapo Guzmns trial in New York, when a key witness recounted how the cash-filled luggage had been delivered to the defense secretary. The AG pounced on that evidence, leading to Lunas arrest this week, but even more shocking allegations also surfaced during the trial.

Another witness called in Chapos defense, in January of this year, was Alex Cifuentes, who worked with Guzmn in Mexico from 2007 to 2013. During that time, as revealed in Cifuentes sworn testimony, penultimate Mexican President Pea Nieto asked that Chapo suborn him to the tune of $250 million. In return for the enormous kickback, according to Cifuentes, Nieto promised that Chapo wouldnt have to hide anymore.

As per the trial transcripts, the sitting president at the time eventually settled for $100 million and the payment was delivered. Nieto then went on to have Chapo captured twice, finally resulting in extradition to the U.S.

Nieto, for his part, tweeted at the time that the charges laid out by Chapos witness were false, defamatory, and absurd.

But since the testimony from Chapos trial netted them a successful indictment against Luna, might U.S. prosecutors also probe Nieto?

Only time will tell, said WOLAs Meyers.

U.S. prosecutors will be responsible for deciding to investigate all allegations against Mexican officials raised in [Chapos] trial, which could also be complemented by information that Garca Luna might choose to provide, she said.

Theres a saying in Mexico: A politician who is poor is a poor politician, said Gallardo. In Mexico politics is a business.

A very dirty business indeed.