*Updated 16 October 2024
https://theintercept.com/2023/01/18/genaro-garcia-luna-trial/
Ten days after winning the Mexican presidency in 2006, and
encouraged by the Bush administration, Felipe Calderon launched the Mexican Drug
War. Less than two decades later over 500,000 are dead and even these figures
are misleading as they don't include all of the tangential deaths involved in
connection to drugs – nor do mere numbers explain what the war has meant for
the industry, its markets, and societies ranging from South America to the
Canadian border.
Thirteen years after it was launched, the US arrested Genaro
Garcia Luna in 2019. Basically he was Mexico's top figure in the prosecution of
the war, and yet several years after leaving office, Washington arrests him for
having ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Regardless of his guilt (or to be cynical) the degree of his guilt,
this episode demonstrates the utter and complete failure of the Drug War and in
many respects typifies its failures.
With demonstrable (if unsubstantiated) connections to the CIA,
Luna was appointed the head of the AFI which as The Intercept piece argues is the
Mexican version of an FBI-DEA combo. In other words, Luna held an extremely powerful
office, and one that transcended presidencies. He was a kind of mini- J Edgar
Hoover it could be argued. From 2001-2012, Luna was easily one of the most
powerful men in Mexico and frequently met with top American officials, in the FBI,
CIA as well as US cabinet level officers.
The evidence suggests the US long knew of Garcia Luna's
corruption and yet he continued in these close relationships with US officials,
settled in Florida, and even opened a 'consulting' firm with CIA-connected
figures. And so the first question is:
Why now?
Current Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO)
had decided to go after Garcia Luna, and it seems clear enough the US doesn't
want him in a Mexican court. Too much could emerge. He will be tried and locked
away north of the border. He knows too many secrets and where too many bodies
are buried. This arrest and conviction isn't a victory for the Drug War but
most likely will end up being part of the whitewash and cover-up. The fact that
he only faces a maximum of ten years demonstrates the absurdity of this trial
and his now guilty verdict. A ten year sentence means he'll probably serve less
and thus he has a lot of incentive to keep quiet. After a few years he should
be able to return to a normal life and a very comfortable retirement.*
Regardless of his sentence, the episode reveals the futility
and the horrific cost of this pseudo-war, this farce that destroys lives and
has led to the creation of massive, insatiable, and frankly destructive bureaucracies.
To paraphrase what the CIA agent said in Sicario – The traffic can't be
stopped, it can only be managed. The demand is too strong.
And then there's what he didn't say. There are too many jobs
at stake that are built around this war and its impact on the US and global
financial system is too substantial and too important to risk bringing to an actual
end. It's in terms of not just the budgets for the various bureaucracies
connected to the Drug War such as Law Enforcement, the Judiciary, and the Penal
System, along with their larger economic implications or ripple effect. But maybe
the most important financial angle is the fact that the very drug money itself is
being laundered into the Western financial system. It is of such a vast
quantity that stopping it and breaking the flow is (at this point in time) not
only undesirable, but almost inconceivable. To be blunt, the majority of the
public has not understood or grasped the full meaning of drugs in Western
society and its economy.
It's a game of musical chairs and for Garcia Luna, the music
stopped and he lost his seat. There is no moral victory here nor any justice.
Locking this man in a cage for a decade or less will accomplish little, nor
will it bring back the hundreds of thousands dead and the millions of lives
destroyed by this charade. But it will allow officials to put a feather in
their cap, press on, and probably ask for more money.
Did he take bribes? Everything indicates that he did. But
people knew and didn't care – or encouraged him to do so. And by all
indications some of those people were connected to US intelligence and law
enforcement. It seems unbelievable to most of the public but not to anyone who
is paying attention, and not to anyone who sits back and keeps expanding the
diagrams and flow charts – not to anyone who understands the magnitude of what
the Drug economy actually means.
It is impossible not to fall into utter cynicism when it
comes to this issue and all the phoney rhetoric surrounding fentanyl and the
current border crisis is no exception. These issues are all connected, they're
all corrupt, and there is no truth out there. It's too complicated an issue to
be marketable in terms of the public, and the monied interests that control the
reins of media and government don't really want it told. The handful of related
Hollywood movies gives one a glimpse but even they fail to frame the full scope
of this and what it all means.
The US System at its core is dirty, decadent, and criminal.
Every empire has these ugly under-sides. Britain had her opium wars and slave
trade among other things. France has its dark secrets too. This corruption and
bloodshed touches on large sections of the US order – and Wall Street is at the
heart of it all. I literally laugh when I see adverts for Christian financial
advisors who are going to plug your money into the markets. I laugh when I hear
words like 'stewardship' and 'responsible investing' uttered by false teachers
pushing middle class values and capitalism as they, their churches,
denominations, and favourite ministries invest in these markets and mechanisms –
the very heartbeats of evil in the world. I laugh when I hear about Christians
working for these sectors of the state and the various financial apparatus that
are part of this larger brutal and horrific beast-system. Some even think
they're building the Kingdom as they do so.
On the contrary, this demonic machine feeds on blood and
despair and its profits are not earned. They are extracted and distilled from
human flesh and abandoned souls.
The biggest trick is the way the images play on the mind.
Think of the confrontation at the border crossing in a film like Sicario. The
cartel thugs are sub-human in appearance. We've seen the MS-13 types and the
like, tattooed faces, and dead eyes. Lost people. Lost beyond what we can
normally conceive of. They're scary people – but utterly broken, destitute, and
frankly worthy of pity.
But I contend there are people far more sinister, menacing, and rapacious to be found wearing suits and living in high end apartments or suburbs inhabiting the greater metropolitan areas of places like Washington and New York. They clean up nice, are properly dressed, groomed, and well spoken, and can probably host a delightful mixer – but they're no less soulless and evil. Some even go to Church on Sunday.
*Update - On 16 October 2024, Garcia Luna was sentenced to 38-plus years - effectively a life sentence. The nature of the charges changed and the government decided to try and lock him away forever.
See also:
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2023/01/smoke-and-mirrors-drug-cartels-and-state.html
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