Felipe en la Portada del New York Times: Ex presidente Mexicano Acusado de Apoyar al Cártel de Sinaloa
Se le hizo aparecer a Felipe Calderón en el famoso periódico internacional del New York Times.
El Texto Íntegro sobre la publicación del New York Times:
Un exfuncionario mexicano condenado por narcotráfico testificó en un tribunal de Nueva York el martes que le habían dicho que Felipe Calderón, el otrora presidente de México, había dado instrucciones a los funcionarios del gobierno para que apoyaran al cártel de la droga de Sinaloa mientras luchaba contra sus rivales.
La acusación la hizo Edgar Veytia, el exfiscal general del estado de Nayarit, quien en 2019 fue sentenciado en una corte federal de Brooklyn a 20 años de prisión por narcotráfico. El Sr. Calderón se apresuró a denunciar la acusación como ridícula.
“Niego categóricamente las declaraciones absurdas reportadas por la prensa hechas hoy por la testigo Veytia”, tuiteó Calderón el martes. “Lo que dices de mí es una mentira absoluta. Nunca negocié ni pacté con delincuentes”.
Las afirmaciones de Veytia se produjeron en el juicio federal por corrupción de Genaro García Luna, ex alto funcionario de seguridad de México, quien enfrenta cargos en el mismo juzgado de Brooklyn por recibir millones de dólares en sobornos del cártel para ayudar a los traficantes a transportar enormes cargamentos de narcóticos a la Estados Unidos. De 2006 a 2012, el Sr. García Luna se desempeñó en el gabinete del Sr. Calderón como secretario de seguridad pública, un cargo poderoso en el que efectivamente dirigió la guerra del gobierno mexicano contra los cárteles de la droga.
Aunque dramática y explosiva, la acusación del Sr. Veytia subrayó algunas debilidades en el caso de la fiscalía, que hasta ahora se ha basado casi exclusivamente en el testimonio de ex narcotraficantes y funcionarios del gobierno, muchos cumpliendo sentencias en sus propios casos de corrupción, con poca otra evidencia para respaldar él. Su testimonio sobre el Sr. Calderón fue un relato de segunda mano sobre hechos que él mismo no presenció.
Desde el estrado, el Sr. Veytia le dijo al jurado que en 2011, su jefe, el gobernador del estado de Nayarit, regresó de una conferencia de seguridad en la Ciudad de México con una noticia impactante: que el Sr. Calderón y el Sr. García Luna le habían dado instrucciones para apoyar a Joaquín Guzmán Loera, el líder del cártel de Sinaloa mejor conocido como El Chapo, en una guerra contra su rival, Arturo Beltrán Leyva.
He had just gotten back from an important meeting with Calderón and García Luna,” Mr. Veytia said of the governor. Mr. Veytia added that the governor reported that Mr. Calderón and Mr. García Luna had told him “to protect Chapo’s people, not Beltrán Leyva’s.”
The civil war between Mr. Guzmán and Mr. Beltrán Leyva, which began around 2008, wracked Mexico with a spasm of violence, much of it committed against federal police officers and police officials who were loyal to either side. Throughout the trial, prosecutors have used the internecine fight as a way to show that in their constant search for an advantage, Mr. Guzmán and Mr. Beltrán Leyva struggled to control Mr. García Luna and the corps of federal officers who served under him.
Mexican news media outlets have been eagerly waiting since the trial began last month for the prosecution to implicate Mr. Calderón in corruption with his country’s drug cartels. But Mr. Veytia’s account on Tuesday was the first time in more than three weeks that an accusation against Mr. Calderón emerged during testimony.
Under cross-examination, Mr. Veytia acknowledged that he had met on multiple occasions with U.S. investigators before Mr. García Luna was arrested, but only offered information about him after Mr. García Luna was in American custody.
Mr. Veytia also testified that, hoping for a reduction in his sentence, he had provided U.S. authorities with information about other Mexican officials, including “the national secretary of defense” — an apparent reference to Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, who was arrested in Los Angeles in late 2020 on bribery and drug trafficking charges. After pressure from Mexico, prosecutors from the same Brooklyn office that is trying Mr. García Luna dismissed the case, citing diplomatic concerns, and returned Mr. Cienfuegos to his homeland.
The government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico has been quick to play up news from the trial to broadly paint Mr. Calderón’s term as rife with corruption. Speaking of Mr. García Luna’s trial on Tuesday morning, Mr. López Obrador lauded his government’s fight against corruption while blasting the country’s former presidents for “looting” the country.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Mexican government’s official Twitter account published a nearly five-minute video clip layered with dramatic music, narration and imagery to publicize the highlights of the trial so far, but did not mention the allegations from Tuesday about Mr. Calderón. The slickly produced clip featured photos of Mr. García Luna with Mexican and American officials intertwined with packages of seized drugs.
As the start of the trial loomed late last year, Mr. López Obrador began speaking regularly about the charges against Mr. García Luna while propping up his government as a counter to the graft that has plagued previous administrations.
“In our government there are no officials like García Luna, human rights violations are not permitted, the authorities are not accomplices,” the president said last November. There exists “no agreement with any organized crime group,” he said.
The explosive allegation against a former president, made in a Brooklyn court, was hotly denied. https://t.co/mqPSSA1EPH
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) February 8, 2023