El Chapo Trial: Cifuentes: "Everything I've breathed and eaten in my life is from drug trafficking."

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat thank you mica

Catching up…on Monday:

From the gossip bin was the fact that Chapo’s wife Emma was a no show.  She gave hints in her interview with Telemundo last week that she may not be at all the court dates. 

That said, Balarezo says Chapo was not aware his wife would not be in attendance.  Her attorney claims it was a planned absence.  In Mexico this is the last week for school before Christmas break, she had mentioned something about that last week. 

Highlights:

The crooked Mexican Attorney General [which one read below]

Jorge Cifuentes, the former Colombian drug trafficker who testified last week and yesterday in the trial of "El Chapo " Guzman, made the admission that  he bribed the former Attorney General of Mexico, Ignacio Morales Lechuga, to obtain police protection in their drug trafficking operations.

Morales Lechuga quickly denounced the accusation via the modern day method of social media.

The witness testified that he made payments to the former official, without saying how much.

Morales Lechuga

Morales Lechuga was the Mexican Attorney General of the Republic between 1991 and 1993 during the Government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994) and subsequently became the Ambassador of Mexico in France.

Defense attorney, [and IMO the best witness examiner] was all over Cifuentes in his cross, and Cifunetes gave it right back.

Asking about Morales Lechuga, “You had a relationship of corruption with him? " Lichtman asked.

Yes, answered Cifuentes.

"Did you give him bribes?” Lichtman pressed.

Without giving details Cifuentes said that he paid Morales Lechuga to guarantee the protection and immunity of his operations in the Mexican territory and in association with Sinaloan Cartel.

In addition, he assured the court in Brooklyn that he had 70 Federal Police officers on his payroll, who he didn’t know personally, but they maintained direct contact with Juan de Dios Rodríguez, "El Flaco", who was an employee of his in Mexico.

After the testimony, Morales Lechuga, told Mexican Press that he intends to  initiate legal action to clear his name, of what he considers “ridiculous, absurd, and immature accusations.”.

"I am requesting the intervention of the Mexican authorities to obtain certification of the statements made, in order to initiate legal actions here (Mexico) or in the United States, or in both countries against the people who try to leave my reputation," he said. 

"I will review exactly who declared it, how it was declared and who transmitted it from there, and from there I will determine what action to proceed with" added Morales Lechuga.

He argued that the accusations, with full knowledge of the U.S. authorities are false and lack any details in the allegations. 

"I'm not going to sit idly by,”  he concluded with.

Drugs

Cifuentes explained that he had told Guzmán that he did not want to get involved in the ephedrine traffic because that business was to generate methamphetamines, to which young people become addicted.

However, in 2010 when the Colombian fled to Venezuela after discovering that the United States government had information about him, he ran out of money and decided to enter the business.

"With hunger I changed my mind," he testified.

After being reprimanded about raising his voice, Lichtman started whispering questions.

Cifuentes whispered his answers.

Lichtman's point was that Jorge had already admitted to dealing with hundreds of tons of cocaine, which is just as bad as meth. That's when the whispers came in.

Lichtman (whispering voice): "Is cocaine good for young people?"

Jorge (whispering voice): "No, sir."

In total, acknowledged Cifuentes, trafficked 220 tons of cocaine to the United States.

The Murders and the History of lies [Mica}

Lichtman then went into one of his favorite bulls-eye zone.  The murders order by the cooperative witness and his history of lying when necessary.

And it got heated. Cifuentes in denial, with Lichtman raising his voice again so much that he was reprimanded by judge Cogan;  “Mr. Lichtman!  No yelling in the courtroom!”

Litchman continued to ask Jorge about murders that he'd ordered. The most notable one is about Flaco the liaison of the 70 Federal Police on the payroll Cifunetes testified about They were paid by Flaco using Cifuentes’ money.

Then Flaco turned on his boss and sent the feds after him.

When the federales came calling, Jorge paid them a $500,000 and sent them back after Flaco who was later stabbed to death at a cocaine warehouse.

Jorge told the jury he felt bad about this because he promised Flaco's father on his deathbed that he would protect Flaco.

Jorge was combative under cross-examination. His exchanges with Lichtman got absurd. There was a long digression about the color pen that Jorge used to take notes when meeting with a corrupt law enforcement officer, and what happened to the note afterward. Jorge said he used a blue pen and that he ripped up the note afterward and flushed it down the toilet at his sister Dolly's house.

Members of the jury were laughing but Judge Cogan didn't seem amused.

Cifuentes: "Everything I've breathed and eaten in my life is from drug trafficking."

He also admitted that he gave 5,000 weapons, including rocket launchers and machine guns, to a Colombian paramilitary group, along with 5 million rounds of ammo.

Also, that the arms and bullets were handed over "all for free" because he wanted revenge against FARC guerrillas.

Lichtman was playing it up, with the usage of terms like guerrilla and paramilitary interchangeably.

Cifunetes tried to explain the difference before concluding, "They are as equally terrorist, equally killers, and equally traffickers of drugs."

Witness to Lichtman "Because you have been  mistaken on your notes and I wanted to help and contribute something."

Lichtman: "You've contributed plenty."

Courtroom drama:

When Cifunetes left the stand and passed Chapo, he mouthed something that Spanish speakers in the courtroom said looked like “clavado”.  When the word is used in slang it can mean “you got killed”  as in losing a game.  Or nailed.   Or defeated.  Any of those meanings wojuld be applicable.

As a witness I think Cifuentes was a C-.  Everything is predicated on performance not for us, not for the attorneys or judge but those 12 people in the jury box.  Cifuentes was unrepentant criminal, combative, disrespectful, boastful and seemed to forget  where he was at times while performing as stand-up.  He was having too much fun.

Next up…one of the Flores twins—one of the ‘stars’ in the case against Chapo Guzmán, -Pedro takes the stand- I will post some of the exhibits already entered in during sentencing memos etc.  It gives an account of what we will hear and catch up in the morning