美国国家公共电台 NPR--Mexico's ex-public security head is convicted in the U.S. of taking cartel bribes

Mexico's ex-public security head is convicted in the U.S. of taking cartel bribes¹

Transcript²

A jury in New York found Genaro Garcia Luna guilty of taking bribes from a cartel. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Maria Hinojosa, founder³ of Futuro Studios and co-host of the podcast USA V. Garcia Luna.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A man named Genaro Garcia Luna was once a senior official in Mexico. And now a jury in the United States has found him guilty of a secret life.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The jury agreed that Garcia Luna took bribes from drug cartels. He did this at the same time he was working with U.S. authorities who tried to crack down on cartels. He was also found guilty of trafficking tons of illegal drugs into the U.S.

INSKEEP: Let's talk to a journalist who's been covering this case all along - Maria Hinojosa, longtime host of "Latino USA" and also co-host of the "USA v. Garcia Luna" podcast all about this case. Good morning.

MARIA HINOJOSA: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: What did Garcia Luna do?

HINOJOSA: Well, he was found guilty of - unanimously by this jury yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn. Same judge, same courtroom as El Chapo - the difference is, is that Genaro Garcia Luna was the top cop, a cabinet-level security officer within the presidency⁴ of Felipe Calderon in Mexico. And he was working for the DEA and all high-level U.S. government institutions, fighting this so-called war on drugs in Mexico, receiving millions of dollars in U.S. taxpayers⁵ to fight this war, except - oops - he was also working for the Sinaloa cartel. He was found guilty of being a member of that cartel. It was incredibly dramatic. But sadly, Steve, not a lot of interest from most of the American mainstream⁶ media, which is pretty disappointing.

INSKEEP: But you were there, of course, and also covering this all along. What was the practical effect of a top Mexican official taking bribes from a cartel? How did that affect the United States, for example?

HINOJOSA: Well, the United States says it has the highest level of intelligence and says that the DEA is the most premier⁷ law enforcement agency to fight this war on drugs. How is it possible that the United States, with all of its intelligence, didn't know or chose not to know, in which case we taxpayers need to know exactly what's going on with the DEA. And what is this war on drugs, after all? I mean, the truth is, is that right now, Genaro Garcia Luna is probably not going to have a chance to get out of prison. He may be spending the rest of his life in prison. Will that affect the traffic of drugs between the United States and Mexico? No. And of course, obviously, this is the consuming country of those drugs.

INSKEEP: Were you able to just trace the way that some of those drugs get to the United States and the way that, in effect, U.S. law enforcement failed to stop them?

HINOJOSA: You know, most Americans just would rather watch this on "Narcos" and not actually deal with real life. So we - my colleague Peniley Ramirez and I got on - in a car and went to Queens, and we saw the train tracks where the trains were arriving with cargo⁸ of soybean-laden cocaine⁹ distributed from Queens throughout New York and to Chicago. We heard about how the Mexico City airport was also being used as a major transportation hub for the Sinaloa cartel. This is all happening.

But how again, Steve, how is it possible that this is happening without the U.S. - as we say in Spanish, (speaking Spanish), without them realizing this. So for me, this is not just an indictment¹⁰ of a high-level Mexican government official. It's an indictment of the United States, the DEA and the intelligence that we trust. But how can we trust it when they were working with Genaro Garcia Luna?

INSKEEP: Maria Hinojosa, longtime host of "Latino USA" and co-host of the "USA v. Garcia Luna" podcast.

1 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

6 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

7 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

8 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

9 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

10 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。