“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat
Oscar Nava Valencia, leader of the Milenio Cartel, had pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking in 2012.
Óscar Nava Valencia, El Lobo, a witness presented by US prosecutors to testify in the trial against Genaro García Luna, a former official of Felipe Calderón’s six-year term, could be released from prison before serving his sentence in the United States.
The former leader of the Milenio cartel is looking for his active collaboration with U.S. authorities in cases such as that of former Public Security Secretary and one of the leaders of Los Cuinis, Gerardo González Valencia, to pay off.
Garcia Luna received millions of dollars from the two most powerful Mexican cartels.
According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Nava Valencia would be released from prison in April 2024, that is, in less than 5 months, after having received in 2014 a 25-year prison sentence after reaching a collaboration agreement which was reduced to 200 months, just over 16 years, in 2019. In addition, the year he spent in prison in Mexico was taken into account.
However, this November 15, a motion for a sentence reduction was filed, which although it is not known if it was filed by the prosecution or Nava’s defense, would imply reducing his sentence again so that he could be released as soon as possible.
El Lobo Nava had pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking in 2012. As the leader of the Milenio Cartel, in addition to running a multi-million dollar drug trafficking business, he had contact with the most recognized Mexican drug lords, such as the Beltran Leyva brothers and Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. He was arrested in Mexico at the end of 2009 and shortly after a year, extradited to the United States.
At the beginning of 2023, he reappeared on the national scene when he was part of the group of witnesses that the US prosecution used against Genaro García Luna, for conspiracy to traffic cocaine.
He said he witnessed at least three meetings between García Luna and criminal leaders. First in 2006 to receive 2.5 million dollars, collected by Arturo Beltrán Leyva, El Barbas, while the Sinaloa Federation existed, to maintain greater control of the territories: “the first time was in 2006, we had to collaborate, to make an agreement between all of us”.
Then in 2007, in Cuernavaca, when he was summoned by El Barbas to explain why drugs belonging to the Beltrán Leyva family had been seized.
“We met in Cuernavaca with Arturo Beltrán and Genaro García Luna to find out what happened (…) I gave him cash. More than 10 million pesos,” said El Lobo, in order to receive the report of the seizure and thus not have problems with his Colombian partners who were claiming for the loss of their cocaine.
And finally in 2008, in a car wash in Guadalajara, when El Lobo personally claims to have paid 3 million pesos to García Luna and his right-hand man, Luis Cárdenas Palomino, head of the Police Intelligence Division of the now defunct Federal Police, for protection.
He also saw how the Gonzalez Valencia brothers, who would later lead Los Cuinis, the financial arm of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), operated the trafficking of tons of cocaine, as he testified in the trial against Gerardo Gonzalez Valencia.
Nava Valencia could be deported after his release, however, having been a cooperating witness for the US government, he could also enjoy protection benefits, his family could also benefit from this, in US territory. In the end, it will be up to a federal judge to determine if El Lobo will be released from his incarceration sooner.