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Ex-security chief ‘betrayed’ Mexico, drugs trial hears

Photo: Cuartoscuro

January 23 | By AFP |

A once-powerful Mexican government minister “betrayed” his country by engaging in the very drug trafficking he was in charge of stopping, US prosecutors told his trial Monday.

Genaro Garcia Luna is accused of receiving vast sums of money to allow the notorious Sinaloa cartel to smuggle cocaine when he was public security minister between 2006 and 2012.

“The defendant took millions of dollars of bribes again, again and again,” government attorney Philip Pilmar said in opening arguments at Brooklyn federal court.

“He is a man who betrayed his country and ours,” added the prosecutor, as the 54-year-old Garcia Luna looked on from the dock, sometimes blowing kisses to his wife and daughter.

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Garcia Luna has pleaded not guilty to five counts that carry possible sentences of between 10 years and life in prison.

US prosecutors accuse him of looking the other way as drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s cartel shipped tons of drugs into the United States between 2001 and 2012.

Guzman is currently serving a life sentence in the United States after being convicted by a jury in Brooklyn in 2019.

The US government alleges that Garcia Luna became a member of Sinaloa around January 2001 when he was working in police intelligence.

From 2006 to 2012 he was the architect of then-president Felipe Calderon’s crackdown on Mexico’s drug gangs.

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But prosecutors say that in exchange for millions of dollars, Garcia Luna agreed not to interfere with drug shipments, tipped off traffickers about law enforcement operations, targeted rival cartel members for arrest and placed other corrupt officials in positions of power.

A former Sinaloa member said at Guzman’s trial that he had delivered suitcases containing at least $6 million in cash to Garcia Luna at a restaurant in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Garcia Luna’s defense team has indicated it will argue that their client was actually helping the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

“No money, no photos, no video, no recording, no text, no evidence that Garcia Luna helped the cartel,” attorney Cesar de Castro said during opening arguments by the defense.

Garcia Luna was detained in Texas in December 2019. He is also accused of lying when he applied for US citizenship in 2018.

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The current Mexican government, which has requested Garcia Luna’s extradition from the United States, has accused him of stealing more than $200 million of public funds.

His New York trial is expected to last eight weeks.

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International

Trump signs order to end federal funding for NPR and PBS

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to halt federal funding for two public media outlets, PBS television and NPR radio, accusing them of being biased.

NPR and PBS are partially funded by American taxpayers but rely heavily on private donations.

Trump has long maintained a hostile relationship with most media outlets, which he has referred to as the “enemy of the people.”

An exception is the conservative Fox News channel, some of whose hosts have played important roles in the administration of the Republican magnate.

“National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) receive taxpayer funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB),” Trump said.

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“Therefore, I direct the CPB board and all executive departments and agencies to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” he added.

The Republican leader argued that “neither of these entities provides a fair, accurate, or impartial portrayal of current events to the taxpayer citizens.”

At the end of March, Donald Trump called on Congress to end public funding for these two “horrible and completely biased networks.”

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International

Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka

Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.

The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.

An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.

The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.

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Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.

Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.

Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.

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Internacionales

Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages

May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.

In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.

While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.

Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.

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