COLUMNS

The Business Impact of Corruption and Impunity in Mexico

undefined and VP of Tactical Analysis
Scott Stewart
VP of Tactical Analysis, Stratfor

Dec 24, 2019 | 10:00 GMT

Mexican Secretary of Public Safety Genaro Garcia Luna, right, in Bogota, Colombia, on May 19, 2011.

Mexican Secretary of Public Safety Genaro Garcia Luna, right, in Bogota, Colombia, on May 19, 2011.

(LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The arrest in the United States of Mexico's former secretary of public security highlights how corruption reaches to the highest levels of Mexico's government.
  • The fact that he was arrested in the United States and not Mexico, and that his arrest came many years after accusations of his involvement in corruption surfaced, is a prime illustration of the impunity that is so pervasive in Mexico.
  • Corruption and impunity enable criminals to behave brazenly, and have significant negative impacts on business.

The detention in the United States of Mexico's former secretary of public security highlights how corruption reaches to the highest levels of Mexico's government. Former Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna was arrested Dec. 10 in Grapevine, Texas. He has been charged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York with three counts of cocaine trafficking conspiracy and one count of making false statements related to bribes he allegedly received from the Sinaloa cartel to help facilitate its smuggling operations. Garcia Luna held the national security post in Mexico during the administration of former President Felipe Calderon from 2006 to 2012. Before then, he headed Mexico's Federal Investigations Agency from 2001 to 2006....

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