“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat
Unofficial versions pointed to the CJNG as the criminal group that would be behind these events.
Before being executed, the victims were interrogated by the gunmen.
Conrado Corral Leyva, head of the Zitácuaro District Police Station, attached to the Ministry of Public Security of Michoacán, was once again the target of accusations for his apparent links with organized crime.
On the night of January 27, local authorities found an abandoned vehicle at a gas station in the Emiliano Zapata neighborhood. In the trunk lay the bodies of three men and a piece of cardboard with the following message: “These dead people are for you Conrado. The day you are no longer in this municipality we will have peace.”
Hours before the discovery, a video was broadcast on social networks showing the interrogation to which the victims had been subjected. In the material, one of the subjects is lying on the ground, while the remaining two appear kneeling. Behind them are three hitmen who direct the conversation.
Sicario: What do you do for a living?
Captive: We steal and sell drugs.
Sicario: Who were you working for?
Captive: For Commander Reséndiz of the State Guard.
Sicario: What do you do with the stolen property?
Captive: We sell off everything. And every Monday we give Commander Conrado an account of what all transpired. If it happens that he’s not around, we debrief with Commander Reséndiz.
Sicario: Now we understand why the Civil Guard doesn’t arrest thieves. And the authorities can corroborate that here lately there haven’t been any arrests of thieves. All of this is due to the actions of the Civil Guard.
At the end of the series of questions, the gunmen unload their weapons against these individuals until their faces are disfigured.
In previous days, Commissioner Conrado Corral had already been mentioned in a series of narco-messages signed by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), whose leader in the municipality is William Edwin Rivera Padilla, alias ‘El Barbas’.
“Everything happening in Zitacuaro is the fault of Commander Conrado of the Civil Guard for stealing money and betraying me,” reads one of the banners placed in different communities in the municipality.
In the same threat, the four-letter cartel refers to an audio that was leaked in March 2023, which evidenced the closeness of Conrado Corral Leyva with a local plaza boss identified as Edwin, possibly ‘El Barbas’.
“Show some respect, I’m not looking for you and that’s all there is to it. I know where the people are, I also know how they move, at what point have I been chasing after you?” were the words of the security official during the conversation.
Another of the intimidations signed by the CJNG included a call to Governor Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla and Security Secretary Jose Alfredo Ortega Reyes.
“They were warned that [Conrado] is stealing and collecting quotas from loggers and roadhouses, this war is solely directed against Conrado.”
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