Close ally of drug kingpin ‘El Mencho’ gets 30 years in prison as US ramps up pressure on cartels
Washington (AP) – Close ally Jalisco New Generation The prosecutors, known as “El Mencho ,, can be semi -subsidized to avoid detection and organized a productive drug trafficking operation using other methods and provides weapons to one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, according to prosecutors.
On Friday, José González Valencia was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment in the US prison in the US prison after 2017 in a beach in Brazil, while in Washington’s Federal Court of Washington.
49 -year -old González Valencia, known as “Chepa, led Jalisco with Jalisco new generation or CJNG’s” Los Cuinis “group, which financed drug smuggling operations – recently severe Cartel A foreign terrorist organization was determined by the Trump administration. Father -in -Chief CJNG Leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera CervantesIt was searched by the US government for years.
Meanwhile, El Mencho’s son -in -law Cristian Fernando Gutiérrez Ochoa claimed that he was guilty in a separate court in the same court on Friday, in a separate case against money laundering conspiracy. Gutierrez Ochoa was arrested in California last year towards the end of the Biden administration, The place where the authorities say After imitating his own death and escaping from Mexico, he lived under a false name.
The prosecution reflects the US government’s efforts to weaken its new generation cartel, which is responsible for importing a surprising amount of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl to the US, and follows its difficult leader. Trump Management tried to increase pressure About CJNG and other cartels with the appointment of a foreign terrorist organization that gives new tools to prosecute those associated with the authorities.
Matthew Galeotti, who leads the Ministry of Justice, said, “You can create a real impact by showing people that we will implement this and that Mexico cooperates with us and ultimately trying to get high levels to put the organization back,” he said.
Trump declared removal of the Ministry of Justice, CJNG and other cartels, and Galeotti said in recent months that the US has seen increasing cooperation from Mexican officials. In February, Mexico sent 29 cartel figures – Drug Lord Rafael Caro Quintero Behind the murder of a US DAA agent in 1985 – To prosecute the United States.
The Trump administration has blamed a handful of defendants who had a handful of terrorist crimes since the CJNG and seven other seven Latin American criminals in February. Galeotti said that several indictments about CJNG and other cartels were under seals.
Galeotti said, “We adopt a division -wide approach,” Galeotti said. “We only have the prosecutors of money laundering who do not focus on themselves.
González Valencia was found guilty of international cocaine smuggling in 2022. Authorities, for more than a decade with their brothers with their brothers led Los Cuinis, after leding in 2015 in Bolivia, he said. After traveling to Brazil in 2017, he was arrested under the first Trump administration and was later returned to the USA.
Prosecutors used “Los Cuinis” and “air, land, sea and submarine methods için to miss the US drugs. In an example, the authorities say that González Valencia has invested in the shipment of 4,000 kilograms of cocaine packaged on a semi -officer ship to travel from Colombia to Guatemala. Prosecutors say that other methods used by “Los Cuinis bir contain the concealment of drugs in frozen shark carcasses. He is also accused of directing the murder of an opponent.
He wore an orange overalls in court and listened to the hearing through a interpreter on the headphones. US regional judge Berryl Howell sealed part of the hearing, lawyers discussed the penalty while discussing the press and the people away from the courtroom. It was not clear why the judge had to be sealed. González Valencia’s lawyer refused to comment after the trial.
In the other case, Gutiérrez Ochoa was searched for alleged that he had kidnapped two Mexican navy members in the hope of ensuring that his wife was released after being arrested by the Mexican officials in 2021 in Mexico. Authorities said he had imitated his own death and had escaped to the US to avoid Mexican officials, and said that he killed “El Mencho” Associates for lying Gutiérrez Ochoa.
Rubén Oseguera, known as “El Mencho’s son, known as“ El Menchito, was sentenced to March Life in prison After his conviction at the Federal Court of Washington, distributing cocaine and methamphetamine for US imports and using a firearm in a drug conspiracy.
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