By “El Huaso” for Borderland Beat
A video capturing the mayor of Chilpancingo, Norma Otilia Hernández Martínez, having breakfast with a suspected leader of the criminal organization Los Ardillos, has sparked an investigation after surfacing online on July 5th.
The video shows the Morena party mayor seated at the table at a restaurant next to her husband, sitting across from a man in a black baseball cap, and a black shirt with a pistol on his belt. This man is alleged to be Celso Ortega Jiménez, the leader of Los Ardillos, a violent criminal group which operates in the state of Guerrero.
The mayor has claimed that the video is edited, and while admitting that the meeting happened, she argues that she was tricked and no pact exists between organized crime and the government. She also explained that the meeting occurred in 2021 when she had just begun her term as mayor. She told reporters that she was invited to the breakfast, but was not told who would be there.
This morning, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in his morning press conference that he has ordered the governor of Guerrero, Evelyn Salgado, to undertake an investigation into the matter.
According to InfoBae, the meeting occurred at a restaurant in the town of San Martín in Quechultenango municipality, a region under the control of Los Ardillos.
Who are los Los Ardillos?
Los Ardillos are a criminal group that operate in the state of Guerrero, tracing their criminal heritage back 20 years, beginning as poppy farmers. When the Beltrán Leyva Cartel declined, they emerged to fill the power vacuum in the state, according to InSight Crime. They are heavily focused in the criminal markets of kidnapping and extortion as well as drug trafficking.
Celso Ortega Jiménez is the current leader and the man in the video.
Los Ardillos gained widespread notoriety after the Attorney General’s office of Guerrero blamed them for the killing of 10 indigenous musicians in January 2020.
Video of this meeting surfaces just two weeks after a narco message was found referencing a breakfast meeting between a criminal actor and the mayor. At the time, the bizarre contents of the message stumped journalists, but the narco communication has gained new meaning with this video. The message was left next to seven mutilated bodies in Chilpancingo, as reported by Borderland Beat.
Behind the five severed heads were two “narcocartulinas” or paper narco messages. The message on the left, written on a green paper reads: Greetings, Mayor Norma Otillia I continue waiting for the second breakfast that you promised me after you came to look for me with such sweetness. Your friend 🙂