Convicted Mexican Security Chief Publishes Letter From Prison Linking President AMLO to Drug Cartels

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, is currently awaiting trial at Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), the same institution that currently holds Genaro Garcia Luna, the Ex-Mexico Security Chief who was convicted for secretly providing years of protection to former drug lord El Chapo and the Sinaloa cartel itself.

On Wednesday, a letter by García Luna, which was leaked to news outlets like La Opinión, accused Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his associates of having ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.

"It is public knowledge and documented in the official records of Mexico and the U.S., the contacts, videos, photographs, communication, and management records between the current President of Mexico, Andrés López Obrador, and his associates with drug cartel leaders and their families," claims García Luna in his four-page letter.

He also says these links were made with witnesses who took part in his own trial:

"[Those contacts] in particular with the drug traffickers who were used as witnesses against me during the trial, who even during the trial accused President López Obrador and his associates of being linked to them and drug trafficking."

García Luna, who is set to be sentenced in early October, goes on to cite a letter made public by Zambada's lawyer, which he claims further establishes the connections with AMLO. The letter in question, however, does not directly confirm these connections but mentions a planned meeting between with Rubén Rocha Moya, governor of Sinaloa and close ally to AMLO. Rocha denies these accusations.

García Luna also says U.S. prosecutors offered him plea deals on multiple occasions, claiming he refused all of them. He further claims that recent judicial reforms in Mexico, which he describes as beneficial to criminals, are part of a broader conspiracy involving both governments.

García Luna's sentencing is scheduled for October 9, and he could face life in prison. Back in August, a New York judge rejected García Luna's request for a new trial, a petition that was based on evidence of an alleged plot among inmates to provide false testimony. The judge, however, countered these claims with evidence that showed an attempt by García Luna to bribe a witness with amounts ranging from $500,000 to $2 million to fabricate favorable testimony.