Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says his takeaway from the conviction of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is that “money doesn’t buy true happiness.”
“I would like that those who choose those paths, reconsider and think that liberty is a precious gift,” López Obrador said Wednesday, according to Proceso.
“Danger should not be caused to another and there shouldn’t be harm done to oneself and to their families because it is, in one form or another, suffering.”
A Brooklyn jury on Tuesday found the drug lord guilty of running a massive, violent narco-trafficking operation, and he now faces life behind bars.
During Guzman’s trial, witnesses and lawyers made allegations of widespread government bribery and corruption in Mexico — with prosecutors claiming in court documents that Chapo’s cartel paid off a former campaign associate of López Obrador during his first failed run for the presidency in 2006.
López Obrador last month declared the end of his country’s “war” on drugs, saying his administration would no longer prioritize the prosecution of kingpins like Guzman.
He has launched a campaign to convince people not to break the law, with the slogan, “We’re all going to behave.”
“Past errors can be punished, but it is better, what has more substance … is to avoid future crimes,” he said Wednesday.
“I am a supporter of moving forward and that we initiate a new chapter, without corruption, nor impunity and that we don’t bet on what was done long ago to punish scapegoats while they raid the country.”
With Post wires
