“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
With Contributions from “Char”
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Kidnapping of “El Mayo”
The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) released images of the location of the meeting, the truck, and the runway that were used by the gunmen and the pilot, respectively, of Joaquín Guzmán López to kidnap Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel who was handed over to the United States on July 25, 2024.
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Guzmán López summoned Zambada to the “Huertos del Pedregal” ranch and events center, on the outskirts of Culiacán, Sinaloa, to meet with Governor Rubén Rocha Moya according to the letter released by “El Mayo’s” US attorney Frank Perez. Mayo claimed this was the place where he saw Héctor Cuén and one of his assistants and that he later learned that the former rector was murdered there. The FGR assured that it has already located that area and it is being guarded.
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“The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has managed to establish, with complete precision, the runway from which the plane that was used for the alleged kidnapping of “El Mayo” took off,” the FGR reported.
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| The primary source of information about Cuen’s murder came from his driver that day, Fausto Ernesto Corrales. |
Report on Cuen’s Murder
The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said that the version of events by its counterpart in Sinaloa regarding the murder of the former rector of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Héctor Cuén Ojeda, “is not acceptable.”
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| The impounded Ford Ranger Raptor driven by Fausto the night Cuen was delivered to the hospital. |
In this regard, Quiñonez Estrada said that the initial statement given by Corrales was “taken into account,” in which he stressed “that they wanted to steal the vehicle” and said that “it cannot be overlooked” that Cuén was shot in the legs and not in the head if the intention was to take his life. But, FGR reported that the autopsy shows he also had a large bruise to his head which could not be explained by the claim put forth by Sinaloan authorities. This resulted in the resignation of the state’s prosecutor over the mishandling of the case.
“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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