With a shot in the neck, José Noriel Portillo, “El Chueco”, designated as responsible for the murder and theft of the bodies of two Jesuits in a church in the Sierra Tarahumara, was found on Saturday on a dirt road in the Sindicatura de Picachos, Municipality of Choix, on the border with Chihuahua. This is your violent history.
the crooked
the face of “The Crooked“, with a frown and a sharp mustache, made it to the screens and front pages of the main media after being identified as the alleged criminal behind the murder of Jesuit priests Javier Campos Morales and Joaquín MoraSalazar, as well as the tour guide Pedro Palma, in the church of the Cerocahui community, in Urique, on June 20, 2022.
But by then, the history of crimes committed by “El Chueco“He had already devastated the heart of the Sierra Tarahumara.
the history
He was born in 1992 in Batopilas, Chihuahua, but lived in Bahuichivo, Urique.
According to information from authorities, they told him “The Crooked” because he had a deformity in one leg, one shorter than the other.
“El Chueco” was a lieutenant of a criminal group at the service of “Los Salazar“, a cell associated with the Sinaloa Cartel that has been operating since the 1990s.
Together with about twenty people, “the crooked“he controlled the planting and transfer of drugs in the Sierra Tarahumara, and everything that was consumed there, from the sale of beer, fried foods and even sweet bread. He decided brands, schedules and percentages. He also asked merchants for quotas.
But his crimes went beyond extortion.
crimes
Jose Noriel Portillo He was wanted by the state and federal authorities since at least 2017, after, according to the investigations, he ordered an attack on the facilities of the State Investigation Agency in the Municipality of Urique, with the balance of one element injured.
The American professor Patrick Braxton-Andrew was shot to death in Urique after, according to the authorities, he was mistaken for “The Crooked” and his gang with a DEA drug enforcement agent in 2018.
The next year, “the crooked“was held responsible for having ordered the kidnapping and murder of the activist Cruz Soto Caraveo, a member of the Collective of Forcibly Displaced Families of the Sierra Tarahumara.
Soto was found lifeless on October 19, 2019, six days after he was reported missing in the community of Los Llanos, Municipality of Guazapares, after having attended a meeting with local authorities.
On June 20, 2022, in the midst of a drunk after having committed the brutal murder of the umpire of a baseball team, he burned with anger when the tour guide Pedro Palma asked him to moderate his celebration at the Misión Cerocahui hotel.
What led to the murder of Palma and the Jesuits Javier Campos Morales and Joaquín Mora Salazar, who tried to protect the guide while he tried to take refuge in his church.
It is also related to the disappearance of three Zacatecans who sold household goods in the Sierra Tarahumara and of whom nothing has been known since October 2019.
His death
The Chihuahua State Attorney General, César Jáuregui, reported that a woman named Diana Carolina Portillo identified him as her brother.
However, Jáuregui specified that until it is confirmed with DNA tests that the body corresponds to “the crooked“can be confirmed.
At a press conference at the chihuahua city, The Prosecutor indicated that the body only presented a bullet wound to the head from the weapons known as R-15, although 16 percussed cartridges were located at the scene.
According to Jáuregui, the body was found yesterday, some 24 hours after being shot in the back of the head.
The body is located in the city of Los Mochis, where personnel from the State Investigation Agency, as well as military intelligence personnel, went to corroborate that it is “The Crooked”.
“The subject has a bullet to the head,” Jáuregui said.
“Family members recognize it, but it is not enough,” he stressed.
When asked about the way in which he was assassinated, Jáuregui said that the investigation corresponds to the Sinaloa FGE, but as far as he has been informed, there have been no reports of any shooting.
‘Not a win’
The Society of Jesus, to which the two murdered religious belonged, affirmed that the death of “El Chueco” does not represent any triumph for justice or as a solution to the structural problem of violence in the Sierra Tarahumara.
“This outcome, if confirmed, is not what we expected nor is it what we are working for,” he added.
The religious organization regretted the death of the alleged culprit and each of the people killed in Mexico, while reproaching the dissemination of the images on the discovery of the body.
“The absence of a legal process in accordance with the law in relation to the homicides would imply a failure of the Mexican State in the face of its basic duties and would confirm that the authorities do not have territorial control in the region,” he accused.
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