The Jalisco state prosecutor assured that the murder of former governor Aristóteles Sandoval in Puerto Vallarta had already been solved, when the motive for the crime was determined and that the mastermind was a plaza boss of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) who was killed in a confrontation with the military in 2022.
Sandoval, who ruled the state from 2013 to 2018, was fatally shot in December 2020 inside a luxurious restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, one of the main CJNG strongholds.
“The Prosecutor’s Office has firm data that allows it to determine the possible motive for the murder, which cannot be disclosed due to the secrecy of the investigation,” said state prosecutor Luis Joaquín Méndez Ruiz, in a video released by the agency in Twitter.
“With all the information contained in the investigation folder, the Prosecutor’s Office reiterates that the governor’s murder has been clarified,” the official stressed.
According to Méndez Ruiz, the person who asked to kill Sandoval is Saúl Alejandro ‘N’, alias ‘Chopa’, who was a lieutenant in that region and “coordinator of financial aspects” of the CJNG chief, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, nicknamed ‘El Mencho’.
Alias ’Chopa’ died in April 2022 after shooting with the military in Puerto Vallarta. The drug trafficker attacked soldiers who were carrying out an operation in that town with bullets from a private car. He was injured and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died, according to a statement from the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA).
Chopa may have made the order to kill the former governor of the state, but the gunman and the person responsible for the killing has never been identified or brought to justice, like most crimes in Mexico.
The Mexican government had Chopa under surveillance for being the alleged mastermind of the assassination of the ex-governor from Guadalajara. It is alleged that ‘Chopa’ coordinated the attack, which was perpetrated by a group made up of between eight and ten hitmen, none of which were arrested.
The Mexican Army points out that among the functions of Saúl Alejandro ‘N’ was also the supply of weapons and tactical equipment to CJNG gunmen in Jalisco, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí.
“The Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office has precise information that the intellectual author of the governor’s murder was Saúl Alejandro ‘N’… who had Moisés ‘N’ as a close collaborator, currently detained and subject to criminal proceedings by federal authorities, and this prosecutor’s office,” Mendez Ruiz said.
It is expected that Moisés ‘N’ will be formally charged with the murder of the governor, although he was not one of the gunmen that entered the Puerto Vallarta restaurant and killed the governor.
The United States anti-drug agency believes that this murder was also organized by Carlos Andrés Rivera Varela and Francisco Javier Gudiño Haro, who would be in charge of a group of hitmen in Puerto Vallarta that is characterized by using high-caliber weapons.
Until now, the only one sentenced for this case is José Manuel ‘N’, nicknamed ‘Manu Vaquita’ and owner of the business where the events were recorded. Manu ordered restaurant employees to clean the crime scene before the police arrived.
The Guadalajara prosecutor pointed out this Monday that “Manu Vaquita” was convicted of the crime of concealment and clarified that he was not released, as the Mexican media reported a few days ago. “He was not exonerated,” he stressed. Meaning he was released from jail.
There are more suspects in custody and arrest warrants are pending against other “material perpetrators,” Méndez Ruiz said. “We won’t stop until we find them,” he promised.
The Jalisco state prosecutor assured that the murder of Continue reading
