The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) reported this Sunday that a federal judge issued arrest warrants against seven people for their participation in the case called “Fast and Furious”, carried out by Washington just over a decade ago.
In a statement, the agency reported that the arrest warrants were issued against Genaro García Luna, former Secretary of Federal Public Security in the Government of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012); as well as Luis Cárdenas Palomino, Intelligence Coordinator of said Police; and those who are confined in high-security prisons, both in the United States and in Mexico.
In addition, an arrest warrant was also obtained against the Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, “who, for a long period, was the leader of the criminal organization that was the recipient of the weapons,” he said.
The Fast and Furious operation was carried out in 2009 during the Calderón Hinojosa government, which had the objective of illegally trafficking more than 2,000 firearms from the United States to Mexico, with the supposed purpose of identifying their users; “Which is illegal and inadmissible.”
“In accordance with the investigations carried out by the United States Department of Justice, the necessary information was obtained to establish said illegal traffic in firearms, which were used in various blood crimes in the country, from 2009 to 2009. recent dates” said the FGR.
The FGR also said that according to the investigations “it was established that these weapons were not only illegally introduced into the country, but also that they have been used in various criminal acts, which have already been investigated and prosecuted in Mexico.”
The impact of the operation, which was carried out between 2009 and 2011 by the Agency for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), has gained notoriety under the current Mexican Government due to criticism of arms trafficking of American origin, with which 70% of crimes are committed in Mexico, according to the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
200,000 firearms enter the United States illegally each year, according to the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena).
Genaro García Luna has been detained since 2019 in a Brooklyn jail (New York) awaiting his trial before a United States federal court.
On July 5, 2021, Cárdenas Palomino was detained in Mexico by members of the Secretary of the Navy, the National Intelligence Center, and the National Anti-Kidnapping Commission and prosecuted for a crime of torture for an event in 2012 related to the case of the French Florence Cassez.
Source: latimes.com/espanol
