Mexican President López Obrador challenges convicted security chief on drug trafficking charges

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Wednesday demanded that former Public Security Minister Genaro García Luna, who was convicted in the United States last year on drug trafficking charges, provide evidence to support his allegations that the president has ties to drug trafficking.

López Obrador was responding to a letter from prison written by García Luna, which was circulated to the press by his lawyer. In the letter, García Luna alleged that there was contact between López Obrador and the Sinaloa cartel faction led by Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who was arrested in Texas in July.

The exchange comes just weeks before López Obrador is due to step down and follows earlier allegations of drug traffickers contributing to his previous presidential campaign.

“He writes that there is evidence, there are videos, there are conversations, there are audios. It’s very simple, he should share them with the public,” López Obrador said during a morning news briefing. The president stressed the need for García Luna to provide evidence, even suggesting that he ask “his friends at the DEA” for help.

García Luna, convicted of accepting bribes to protect violent cartels, maintains his innocence. He held various security positions under Presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón between 2000 and 2012, both political opponents of López Obrador.

In the letter, García Luna claimed that Mexican and U.S. officials have evidence of López Obrador’s connections to drug traffickers, noting that there are contacts, videos, audios, photographs and communication records. The 56-year-old former official faces a sentence of 20 years to life in prison, scheduled for Oct. 9.

García Luna has accused Mexican authorities of lying and providing false information to the U.S. about his case, and alleged that U.S. prosecutors offered him a deal to become a protected witness for a lesser sentence. García Luna, who spent nearly five years in what he describes as “inhumane conditions,” has witnessed killings and threats while in custody.

Last month, U.S. prosecutors charged García Luna with bribing inmates to provide false testimony in support of a new trial. Mexican authorities allege that García Luna embezzled $745.9 million from government technology contracts, funneled the money into offshore accounts and used it to buy luxury items.

(With input from agencies.)