Juarez City.– Statements from victims of aggravated kidnapping and lines of investigation from the state Public Ministry suggest that, in Juárez, organized crime dedicated to human trafficking and kidnapping of migrants is colluding with the Army and the National Guard.
A man originally from Toluca, with the initials BABG, told the social representation that once they tried to cross into the United States without success, a group of migrants returned to Mexican soil through the Juárez border.
“Two trucks of 20 soldiers arrived, they asked us where we came from, we saw that one of them made a call and they handed us over to La Línea,” said the man, referring to the criminal group that operates in Ciudad Juárez. “They took us covered with a blanket to the Juárez Valley,” was read on Friday during the continuation of the initial hearing of Juana Cecilia DCR, the fifth person linked to proceedings under criminal case 3517/2024.
Another victim, originally from Honduras with the initials LJBC, said that one day around 2:00 in the afternoon, soldiers arrived at the “warehouse” where they were kept, to “rescue” them, as they were told. However, instead of handing them over to the National Migration Institute (INM), they were taken to another point, unknown to the victims.
“It was an abandoned house on the bank of the river, by the Broken Bridge,” he said. At the scene, a supposed military chief who identified himself as “El Cazador” – for being the one who finds the safe houses of criminal groups – called who they thought was a criminal leader. The call was on speakerphone, so they heard the dialogue.
Separately, investigators from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in Strategic Operations, interviewed by El Diario, assured that in several of the investigation files initiated, the omissions committed by the federal authorities stand out, mainly, since they are in charge of monitoring the roads. Panamericana, to Casas Grandes and Juárez-Porvenir.
“How do trailers with people arrive if there is a Highway Checkpoint? How do areas like Anapra, which have three entrances under the custody of the National Guard (GN), have the greatest number of warehouses and safe houses? ”, the researchers questioned.
“There are many authorities involved in migrant trafficking. In the last folders we are already documenting the links between the military and elements of the GN,” they stated.
El Diario requested the position of military personnel through two elements in charge of media attention, without them responding to the request for information.
The cases
In May and June, the elements of the Model Unit for Attention to Kidnapping Crime Northern Zone, of the Strategic Operations Prosecutor’s Office, obtained a dozen links to proceedings against alleged kidnappers who operated in different parts of the city.
From 2023 to June 2024, they have identified 11 different gangs dedicated to trafficking, kidnapping and extortion of people in mobility situations, mainly throughout the state.
Among the latest cases presented before a Guarantee judge is the connection to the process of Javier Jahir GM, Alexis Eduardo FA, Alan Alfredo GM and Alejandro DPM, who allegedly together with other people kidnapped 30 migrants, although one was murdered between April and May of this year. The continuation of the initial hearing was on June 6.
This investigation resulted in the arrest of Juana Cecilia DCR in compliance with an arrest warrant for events investigated since May 30 following an anonymous complaint about suspicious acts in the Rincones de Salvárcar neighborhood.
After the accusation and connection of the previous four men, the location of DCR was achieved, identified by some of the victims as the one responsible for transporting them, bringing them food, but also as the one who threatened, hit them with boards and recorded the attacks to send them to the relatives of the victims, who were asked for up to 300 thousand pesos per victim.
At least two of the victims’ testimonies collected point to elements of the Mexican Army holding them, handing them over to the kidnappers and even negotiating with them.
After “rescuing” them from a warehouse, said a victim originally from Honduras, the military took them to an unknown point, where they listened to the dialogue between an alleged military leader and a criminal leader. “Should we settle with shots or with bills?” the criminal allegedly demanded on the phone line.
“If you have the balls, I’ll wait for you at the Broken Bridge, or give me the 25 thousand dollars a week and we’ll let them work and let them cross the bridge,” said the victimized migrants they heard during the conversation.
Juana Cecilia DCR’s private defender argued that it is incredible that the victims had not reported the group of kidnappers to the soldiers or members of the National Guard with whom they interacted.
However, the Control Judge Carlos Jaime Rodríguez García dismissed the logical-legal argument given the statements of these two victims, since the alleged collusion between the authorities and the criminal group was notable, which generated distrust and fear when thinking about requesting help. .
Unsafe roads
Foreigners in a situation of mobility who arrive in Juárez aboard trailers are kidnapped at kilometer 20 by members of organized crime who transport them to safe houses, it emerged last Friday in the public hearing held against three accused of the crime. of aggravated kidnapping.
This is the case of the victim identified by her initials CLAG, a Guatemalan national, for whom her family member – already living in the United States – deposited $4,400 in exchange for her freedom and still remained in captivity.
The victim said that he traveled to this border in a trailer and an armed group took him and other people out of the heavy vehicle and then took them to a safe house.
A specialized expert determined that AG faces severe psychological trauma due to the deprivation of liberty and the blows received during his captivity.
The victim identified Brayan Alejandro RR, Daniel RH and Héctor Arturo SB as his probable aggressors, who, he stated, were taking drugs in the safe house where he remained with 14 other foreigners who were rescued by Anti-kidnapping agents.
The investigators of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Strategic Operations, interviewed by El Diario, assured that in several of the investigation folders initiated, the omissions of the federal authorities mainly stand out.
Previously, another truck was videotaped “unloading” migrants in the Sierra Vista subdivision, also near a GN barracks, while another trailer with more than 130 migrants was located in Samalayuca.
“There are many authorities involved in migrant trafficking,” stated the Public Ministry agents who have also brought a municipal police officer involved in these illicit activities before a Control Judge.
The journalistic file states that elements of the GN were involved in an armed attack against foreigners on October 9, 2023. In that case it was the “polleros” who saved their “clients”; State police assisted the injured who were admitted to the General Hospital.
The Attorney General’s Office is in charge of the investigation of this violent event without obtaining positive results, since the defecting officer remains a fugitive.
On August 11, 2023, seven agents of the National Guard stationed at the Abraham González International Airport were deprived of the freedom of the home they rented in the Oasis Revolución neighborhood and were tortured, although it was officially reported that there were three elements, which According to investigations, they were related to human trafficking and were attacked by members of organized crime.
On February 21, GN officer David Alejandro González González, 22 years old, and his friend Brandon Alexis García Jiménez, 28 years old and a deserter from this corporation, disappeared in the Anapra area, near one of the barracks that was built in 2020.
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