Mexico President López Obrador calls for an investigation into ‘corrupt’ release of Mexican cartel boss’ mother and two relatives after prosecutors failed to produce evidence to take them to trial
- Mexico’s president said an investigation will be launched after María Eva Ortíz and several families members were released from prison Sunday
- Ortíz is the mother of José Antonio ‘El Marro’ Yépez, leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel
- She and 30 others were arrested June 20 during a raid in Celaya, Guanajuato
- A judge scheduled a two-day hearing for Ortíz, her daughter, niece and two others but cleared them after the prosecution did not provide any evidence
Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is seeking an investigation into the release of a fugitive cartel boss’ mother and two other relatives from prison.
The announcement came Monday, one day after María Eva Ortíz walked out of a prison in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato almost a week after she and 30 others were arrested for their alleged ties to the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.
López Obrador went as far as suggesting that judge Paulina Iraís Medina colluded with cartel leader José Antonio ‘El Marro’ Yépez and was looking for any loophole that would lead to the release of the family members and henchmen.
‘I very much regret this, it has to do with an old problem linked to the components: inefficiencies and corruption,’ López Obrador said.
‘There is always talk that alleged criminals are released because the investigation was not integrated and it is a way to hide an agreement, a compromise. They are always looking for some judges – I do not generalize – but there are judges who are looking to see if there was any fault at the time of the arrest in the documents that were presented, anything, to release suspected criminals.
María Eva Ortíz (center), the mother of Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel leader José Antonio ‘El Marro’ Yépez, was cleared by a court judge in Guanajuato, Mexico, Sunday after it was determined that the prosecution did not have enough evidence to charge her and two other family members of any any wrongdoing after they were arrested June 20
José Antonio ‘El Marro’ Yépez (pictured) commands the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, an organization that focuses on fuel theft
Pictured from left to right are El Marro’s mother; María Ortiz; his sister, Juana Yépez; and his cousin Rosalba. The three women were among 31 individuals who were arrested June 20 by the military and the police due to their alleged ties to El Marro’s Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel
Judge Medina had previously scheduled a two-day hearing that started Saturday morning and ran until Sunday 4pm before she ordered the immediate the release of Ortíz, her daughter Juana Yépez, her niece and two other men because the prosecution did not have enough evidence to take it to trial.
The defense was able to prove that the authorities arrested Ortíz without obtaining a warrant to search one of her daughter’s home, which is located a block away from the stash house. The agents then took El Marro’s mother to the safe house so that they could claim they had apprehended her there.
Furthermore, lawyers showed that the security forces executed the apprehensions well before the warrant had been approved approximately at 9pm.
A burning car is pictured outside a store after an operation by security forces against the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel in Celaya, Mexico, on June 20
Attorneys also proved that the Guanajuato Criminal Investigation Agency planted $89,000 at the stash house by removing it from 30 different addresses in the San Isidro de Elguera neighborhood. Authorities initially said Ortíz was in possession of all of the money.
During the hearing, the defense presented an audio in which the law enforcement agents reportedly were heard telling a woman to tell members of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.
Following their apprehensions, members of the fuel theft criminal organization that is led by ‘El Marro’ set up road blocks in the municipality of Celaya and 12 other nearby cities and burned trucks and cars.
The woman is heard in the recording saying, ‘they will beat us if they keep burning’ the cars and trucks.
A sting at a criminal organization’s safe house in central Mexico led to the arrest of 31 people June 20 in Celaya, a city in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato