“El Lobo” Valencia and “El Pilo” Testify as “El Menchito” Trial Begins ~ Borderland Beat

Who is “El Lobo?”

Oscar Orlando Nava Valencia, better known as “El Lobo”, 52 years old, was the leader of Los Valencia or the Milenio Cartel. He was also one of the closest collaborators of Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, better known as “Nacho” Coronel, who in turn was one of the main operators of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel (BLO).

Originally from Aguililla, in Michoacán, he took over the leadership of “Los Valencia” after the arrest of his uncle Armando Valencia Cornelio, “El Maradona”, in August 2003, in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

“El Lobo” and his brother, Juan Nava Valencia, “El Tigre,” were responsible for planning and transporting cocaine shipments from Central and South American countries, through shipments that had as their final destination the port of Manzanillo, Colima, from where it was shipped to the United States.

“El Lobo” was arrested in October 2009 by members of the Mexican army in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, after an armed confrontation. In January 2011, the Mexican government extradited him to the United States. Nava Valencia said that until 2009, when he was arrested, the Milenio cartel was moving 5 tons of cocaine, 5 tons of marijuana and up to 2 tons of methamphetamine per month in the United States, Mexico and Europe, thanks to the collaboration of “El Mencho” and other criminal cells.

At the time, the Oseguera clan was part of the armed wing of the defunct cartel and ran various drug trafficking operations.

After having his sentence reduced twice, “El Lobo” was released from prison in the United States on November 27, 2023, after serving 12 years, according to a search of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) records under number 84193-279.

According to the newspaper Milenio, which reported on the incident on December 1, 2023, Nava Valencia would remain in the United States as part of the protected witness program, along with his wife and children, who were already in that country.

“In accordance with the agreement signed with the (United States) Department of Justice, ‘El Lobo’ will remain available to authorities to cooperate in future cases, as he did with Genaro García Luna and one of Los Cuinis,” the same newspaper reported.

Genaro García Luna’s defense attempted to discredit the credibility of “El Lobo.” During his testimony, he claimed that he had paid more than $10 million to the then federal official in exchange for security and information about his rivals.

During his interrogation, defense attorney Florian Miedel focused on “El Lobo’s” criminal past and also on the fact that since his arrest – from 2011 to 2020 – he never mentioned García Luna’s name during the dozens of meetings he had with US security agents and prosecutors.

However, Nava Valencia tried to justify himself by stating that the United States Attorney’s Office had only specifically asked him about García Luna in 2020 and that he feared possible reprisals against his family.

However, Miedel noted that in 2022, “El Lobo” told U.S. security agents that he retracted his statements about García Luna and that he had not met him, although after speaking with them he decided to continue with his original testimony.

García Luna’s lawyers argue that the Eastern District of New York Attorney General’s Office has no “objective” evidence against their client, such as documents, recordings or videos, and that it is based on the testimonies of criminals, drug traffickers and murderers, who want to take revenge on those responsible for security and make deals to get out of prison as soon as possible.

“El Lobo” Nava Valencia concluded his testimony with comments from “El Menchito’s” lawyer about how he abused all cooperation to get free after being a prominent drug trafficker.