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In the government of the former PRI governor, up to 15,000 missing people were estimated, police collusion and an increase in the presence of drug trafficking groups
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Mexico City. – The former PRI governor of Veracruz, Javier DuarteAlthough he was captured in 2017 for the crimes of criminal association and money laundering during his term in the entity (2010-2016), groups of activists have denounced that his time in prison does not repair the damage he left in the state, mainly due to the increase in violence with drug trafficking groups and missing persons.
Since 2018, Duarte de Ochoa has been in the North Prison in Mexico City and has tried to leave early, but a judge denied him this option. In this regard, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) seeks to reclassify the crimes for which he remains in prison. Activists, groups and families of victims demanded that he be tried for the violence he left in Veracruz.
Official figures indicated that while Javier Duarte governed and had Arturo Bermúdez former Secretary of Security in the management of the PRI, the state of Veracruz became the second with the most kidnappings. During the six-year period, a figure of 502 disappearances was calculated, but activists estimated that the figure was around 15 thousand victims.
The organization Article 19 warned that during the Duarte government, 17 journalists were documented as missing, possibly due to their work. From the count, there are three cases that still remain missing. Duarte’s management was also complicit in crimes against civilianssince in 2018 while the trials were taking place, they pointed out constant abuses by the police under the command of Bermúdez Zurita.
Newspaper reports also reported that while Duarte governed, there was an increase in violence due to tortured and dismembered bodies. The authors were made known as part of a group called “Matazetas”, today known as members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a criminal association with the greatest presence in the country.