Salgado was taken into custody in the state of Mexico in connection with 43 missing students from Ayotizanapa.
By H. Nelson Goodson
October 18, 2014
Mexico D.F. - On Friday, Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado, one the main leaders of the criminal organization the Guerreros Unidos was taken into custody in the state of Mexico by federal police and military, according to Jesús Murillo Karam, the Mexican federal Attorney General. Salgado's arrest could provide information about the whereabouts of the 43 students that were reported missing from Iguala since September 26.
So far, more than 50 suspects have been detained including 14 municipal police officers from Cocula, 22 municipal police officers from Iguala, 16 members of the Guerreros Unidos including several of its leaders, Salgado and Salomón Pineda, aka, "El Molón."
Cocula Mayor César Miguel Peñaloza was also arrested in connection with the missing students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos school in Ayotizanapa.
25 of the suspects were transferred to the Nayarit federal penitentiary on Friday, according to Karam.
Benjamin Mondragon Pereda from the municipality of Jiutepec in the state of Morelos committed suicide early last Tuesday after federal police surrounded his residence. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Pereda was considered one of the leaders of the Guerreros Unidos.
The federal and state attorney general's office are searching for Iguala Mayor José Luis Abarca Velázquez, his wife, María de los Ángeles Pineda and Felipe Flores Velázquez, Iguala's Public Security Director who have disappeared and went into hiding after the students were kidnapped and some were brutally tortured and killed. Abarca Velázquez, Pineda Villa and Flores Velázquez have been implicated in the students murders. At least nine clandestine graves have been discovered and 28 bodies have been recovered. An additional four mass graves have been uncovered and authorities are investigating, if the remains recovered are some of the missing students.
In an unrelated homicide, Mayor Abarca Velázquez is also accused of personally killing Arturo Hernández Cardona, the leader of the United Popular organization from Guerrero in late May to early June 2013, according to a notarized affidavit from Nicolás Mendoza who witnessed the cold blooded murder by Abarca Velázquez. Abarca Velázquez shot Cardona in the face and chest while saying "I'm going to have the pleasure of killing you" as Flores Velázquez watched, according to Mendoza. Félix Rafael Bandera Román and Ángel Román Ramírez were also killed. Román attemped to escape and was fatally shot and Ramírez tried to run from another location where the remaining five kidnapped victims were taken to be executed. The victims had been tortured and beaten for several days. Mayor Abarca Velázquez and Flores Velázquez were not charged for the murders in 2013 because the Guerrero state Attorney General's Office filed the case and didn't act. Federal prosecutor, Karam confirmed to Aristegui that René Bejarano from the PRD political party had mentioned Mayor Abarca Velázquez 2013 Cardona murder case to him when Bejarano was at the federal Attorney's General Office talking to Karam for a different issue, but Bejarano never gave Karam the file and evidence to prosecute Abarca Velázquez as he promised. Karam has now taken up the Cardona, Román and Ramírez murder case against Mayor Abarca Velázquez. If Abarca Velázquez would have been prosecuted by the Guerrero state Attorney General's Office for the Cardona, Román and Ramírez murders in 2013, the Iguala student massacre could have been avoided, according to Karam.
A $1M pesos ($77K U.S.) reward is being offered by the state of Guerrero for information leading to finding the 43 Iguala missing students.
On Friday, 16 of 18 Mayors from municipalities in Guerrero closed their government offices in anticipation of an Acapulco mega-march advocating for the return of the 43 missing students to avoid any confrontations with students, activists and family members of the missing students. There were reports of a two day closure of multiple universities around Mexico in protest of the missing students.
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