The authorities are beginning to understand the criminal map that led to the murder of Carlos Manzo, mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán, on November 1st. The arrests of the last week and a half define lines and directions and indicate a very clear path, that of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), the criminal hydra of the Mexican present. The logistical responsibility of one of the members of the criminal group appears evident at this moment, but not so much his motivations, which are still shrouded in fog. What seems clear, judging from the details leaking out of the court, is that Manzo was kept under close surveillance. The question now is whether the stalking came from his own team.
On Saturday, the penultimate group of detainees appeared before the judge, Manzo’s seven bodyguards, accused of “murder by commission by omission, acting as guarantor”, a bizarre expression that suggests the accused’s alleged inexperience in the custody of the victim. That is to say, they didn’t take care of him and that’s why they killed him. This strange judicial process, yet to be resolved – the hearing continues this Wednesday – actually seems to hide a more serious suspicion, namely that the murdered mayor’s bodyguards took part in the plot. At the moment it is precisely this, a suspicion, but the story that the investigators told before the judge confirms it.
A person present at the hearing, familiar with the accusation and the investigations presented by the investigators, points out that the criminals responsible for the operation, led by Jorge Armando N, alias El Licensed, arrested last week, had a chat in which they shared information. “There, for example, on the day of the murder,” he says, “the lawyer said: ‘The pigeon is already watching the area, great day.'” The criminal was referring to his contact, Manzo’s guard, who hours later told them, which The Licensed picked up in the chat, that the mayor was still in the “Oxxo” store, before going to the downtown square for a public event, where they eventually killed him.
A source close to the investigation, consulted by EL PAÍS, also underlines that a person from Manzo’s closest circle “sent his positions” to the criminal association. At the moment it is not known whether that person is the same person mentioned in the hearing, just as it is not known his affiliation, whether he was an escort or how he disguised his presence with the victim.
The actions of the bodyguards after the attack fuel suspicions about this group. According to data released in court, the police seized the gun of the killer, Víctor Ubaldo N, a 17-year-old boy addicted to methamphetamine. Once subdued, they shot him. Furthermore, they prevented the doctors from approaching the boy. “A paramedic tried and they told him: ‘leave it, leave it alone’. And because they were very angry and very armed, he didn’t insist,” the first source says.
Another issue that emerged at the weekend hearing was the circumstances of the arrest of Jorge Armando N., presented as the intellectual author of the attack, a qualification that was later lowered by the Federal Security Cabinet, led by the secretary of the branch, Omar García Harfuch. The senior official clarified last week that El Licensed was one of the masterminds—a no-brainer, in fact, since to this day it is not known why the mayor of Uruapan was killed and who used a regional branch of the CJNG to do so, if the criminal group did not act on its own initiative.
According to the first source, present at the hearing, El Licenza fell thanks to an informant who called the reporting lines anonymously. Somewhat surprisingly, the informant provided investigators with “the lawyer’s name, his address in Morelia,” the capital of Michoacán, where he was detained, as well as “his truck and cell phone number.” He also said that he and “a person named Margarita were involved in the death of the president and that they spend their time kidnapping in Uruapan.” This person named Margarita has not yet appeared in any official stories.
The criminal map of the plot to kill Manzo grows every day. This Monday the authorities announced the arrest of Jaciel N, the alleged recruiter of two of the three criminals responsible for the attack, the two youngest, as this newspaper learns, the perpetrator of the attack, and Fernando Josué N, aged 16. The latter was found dead on a street in Michoacán a few days after the attack, along with the third member of the executioner group, Ramiro N., a 34-year-old man who also helped Jaciel N. in recruiting tasks.
Ramiro’s story has also made headlines in recent days. During the hearing, the contents of a letter he had left to his partner, before embarking on the criminal enterprise of attacking Manzo, were aired. In the letter the man tells Paulina that it was not true that he had gone to work on the avocado plantations, a large regional industry. In reality he had gone with the CJNG, to manage the recruitment of the boys and organize part of the attack.
