“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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Cuen’s Murder Coverup
Fausto was the primary source of information that the Sinaloa authorities based their reports on, and claimed to have backed the witness’ statement with video evidence.
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“Fausto Corrales reportedly stated that he and Héctor Melesio Cuén were waiting for lawyers in the rural Condado de San Francisco, near La Presita, from the morning of July 25 until late at night, and that when they did not arrive, they returned to the city of Culiacán, and that on the way they stopped at a gas station to fill up with fuel,” the Sinaloa state prosecution indicated.
Fausto claimed that he drove Cuen to a meeting with lawyers who never showed, then when they stopped to fuel up, Cuen was shot in the leg after a failed carjacking was attempted by two men on motorcycle. Fausto then drove Cuen to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“The information about what happened at a gas station in the municipality of Culiacán is not acceptable, nor does it have reliable evidence that would allow it to be taken into account,” the FGR said. The FGR denies that the data provided by its counterpart in Sinaloa can be used for investigations. The Sinaloa authorities maintained that the main line of investigation was a vehicle theft.
Journalist Ismael Bojórquez, from Ríodoce, called attention to the fact that in the video released by the prosecution “there are no [flashes] or flashes like those emitted by a firearm when fired in the dark.”
He mentions that, according to what was reported by the prosecution on July 29, four days after the crime, “Fausto Corrales would have declared that Héctor Melesio Cuén and he were from the morning of July 25 until late at night, waiting for some lawyers in the rural Condado de San Francisco, near La Presita, and when they did not arrive, they returned to the city of Culiacán, and that on the way they stopped at a gas station to fill up with fuel.”
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However, the video “shows that, in reality, the truck in which Cuén and Fausto were traveling was not coming from north to south, but from south to north; that is, it was not coming from the rural San Francisco County —although they had been there before—, but was going from Culiacán to the north.”
As federal authorities began investigating Cuen’s death following statements made by “El Mayo,” they searched his home and sought to re-question him stating, “That is why we consider it necessary to summon witness Fausto Ernesto Corrales again to expand on his statement, since it was reported in the media that the author of a certain letter placed the teacher in Huertos del Pedregal and said that he was accompanied by his assistant, which gives us the idea that he could have been the reference witness and therefore did not stay alone in Condado de San Francisco as he initially said.”
Borderland Beat’s El Mayo Kidnapping Coverage
Flight Details
Sources Borderland Beat, FGR