Judge Randy Crane, of the Federal Court for the Southern District of Texas, based in McAllen, sentenced, on September 16, 2024, Denisse Ahumada Martínez, councilwoman of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, of the National Action Party (PAN), to three years in prison, detained by agents of the United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), on June 10, 2023, in Falfurrias, Texas, in possession of almost 42 kilos of cocaine, hidden in her private vehicle.
The judge indicated that Ahumada Martínez would remain the 37 months of her sentence in custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), without the benefit of parole. However, the former councilwoman could appeal this decision, because her sentence was less than 5 years in prison.
US FEDERAL PROSECUTORS CHARGE REYNOSA COUNCILWOMAN WITH NEW DRUG TRAFFICKING CHARGES
On June 27, 2023, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, in the United States, filed new federal charges against Denisse Ahumada Martínez, councilwoman of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, of the National Action Party (PAN), detained by agents of the United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), on the 10th of the same month and year, in Falfurrias, Texas, in possession of almost 42 kilos of cocaine.
The Tamaulipas councilwoman was held without bail and will have a hearing on August 7, 2023, in the Court of the Southern District of Texas, based in McAllen, before federal judge Ricardo Hinojosa, who will have to resolve the new charges brought against Ahumada Martínez.
On Sunday, June 25, 2023, the 10-day deadline for the Tamaulipas councilwoman to be transferred from the Hidalgo County jail to the Brooks County jail, where she would be prosecuted by a state judge, expired.
But on Friday, June 23, 2023, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office for the Southern District of Texas filed new charges against Ahumada Martínez and the councilwoman appeared before Judge Juan F. Alanís, who dismissed the first charges.
In the new accusation, the US federal prosecutors charge Ahumada Martínez with the crime of “two counts of conspiracy” to distribute a controlled substance, for which the judge ordered her detention without bail, according to the office of the clerk of the Court of the Southern District of Texas, based in McAllen.
The Tamaulipas councilwoman was not transferred to the Hidalgo County jail and remained in the custody of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) in McAllen.
LAWYER CLAIMS THAT REYNOSA COUNCILWOMAN WAS THREATENED WITH DEATH TO BRING DRUGS TO THE US
On June 20, 2023, attorney Samuel Reyes stated that Denisse Ahumada Martínez, councilwoman of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, from the National Action Party (PAN) – arrested by agents of the United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) on the 10th of the same month and year, in Falfurrias, Texas, in possession of almost 42 kilos of cocaine – was forced to commit said crime, under threats of death.
According to the police report, she also acknowledged that she carried out a similar operation previously. But “she never admitted that she was transporting drugs, that is a lie,” the Texan litigator, who took on the Ahumada Martinez case in Texas, told the French agency AFP.
“There are violent individuals in Mexico who are behind drug trafficking who threatened her presumably, they are linked to drug trafficking, a cartel. She does not know who these people are, but they threatened her with firearms, they said they would kill her and her two daughters if she did not do exactly what they told her,” Reyes explained.
“They told her: you are going to move this vehicle, and she moved the vehicle and did not know what was inside. Approximately thirty days later, they asked her to move another vehicle, again, and if she did not do it they would kill her. She moved the vehicle and they stopped her at the Falfurrias checkpoint, where they found cocaine,” added the Texan litigator.
The Tamaulipas councilwoman, still detained in Texas, was awaiting a state-level trial, after being re-arrested by Brooks County police in Texas on June 16, 2023, accused of possession of a controlled substance.
The woman’s defender told AFP that he hoped a “reasonable” bail would be set, so that Ahumada Martínez would be released and begin an asylum application with immigration lawyers. “I believe that, under her circumstances, she qualifies for asylum,” he commented.
Judge Juan F. Alanís, of the Southern District Court of Texas, based in McAllen, released Ahumada Martínez, a councilwoman from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, from the National Action Party, on June 15, 2023, for lack of evidence.
DUE TO LACK OF EVIDENCE, US FEDERAL JUDGE RELEASES PANIST COUNCILWOMAN FROM REYNOSA
Judge Juan F. Alanís, of the Southern District Court of Texas, based in McAllen, released, on June 15, 2023, for lack of evidence, Denisse Ahumada Martínez, councilwoman of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, of the National Action Party (PAN), detained by agents of the United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), on the 10th of the same month and year, in Falfurrias, Texas, in possession of almost 42 kilos of cocaine.
According to the order made public by the federal magistrate, there was not enough evidence to charge the councilwoman with possession of drugs with intent to distribute them, as requested by Texas prosecutors.
On June 14, 2023, the preliminary hearing had been suspended because Ahumada Martínez did not have a defense attorney. In addition, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had to prove to the federal judge that the councilwoman knew she was transporting drugs.
Alanís argued that she did not find probable cause against Ahumada Martínez, since the agency of the U.S. Department of Justice had not met the elements of probable cause, after hearing the councilwoman’s testimony.
The federal judge held that the U.S. government could not prove that the accused knew that the drugs were in the car she was driving. However, the DEA has the option of disagreeing with Alanís’ decision and providing more elements.
AMLO EXHIBITS PAN COUNCILWOMAN IN REYNOSA, ARRESTED IN THE US WITH 42 KILOS OF COCAINE
On June 15, 2023, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador exhibited Denisse Ahumada Martínez, councilwoman of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, of the National Action Party (PAN), arrested by agents of the United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), on the 10th of the same month and year, in Falfurrias, Texas, in possession of almost 42 kilos of cocaine.
During the morning press conference – held from the Treasury Room of the National Palace – the Tabasco politician celebrated that the capture of the councilwoman – 34 years old – took place in the United States, so that the opposition would not accuse his Government of politically persecuting members of other parties.
López Obrador showed a video in which the state leader of the PAN in Tamaulipas, Luis Rene Cantú Galván, welcomes the councilwoman who was previously a member of the Mexican Green Ecologist Party (PVEM) to his party. However, he criticized the fact that after the case became known, he distanced himself from the detained woman.
“The PAN councilwoman was detained […] when they informed me, the first thing I said was: ‘where? ’ When they told me that in the United States, oh, if not, they were going to say that we were persecuting her, that it was a political matter,” said the national leader.
“They are very hypocritical, even when it is apparently a minor matter, they are very accustomed to hypocrisy, it is their doctrine and it is not just them, we are talking about millions of people with all due respect,” added the head of the Federal Executive Branch.
“National Action takes care of the well-being of citizens, the party I was in before did not do this,” Ahumada Martínez commented in a video, in which she appears alongside fellow local Tamaulipas deputy Cantú Galván.
According to a statement from the United States Government, the councilwoman arrived at the “Javier Vega Jr.” checkpoint, located in Falfurrias, Texas, in her white Mazda SUV, coming from Reynosa and heading to San Antonio.
The CBP agents subjected the vehicle to an X-ray inspection, where they detected that there were packages inside the seats and in the door panels, so they performed a manual inspection in which they found several packages with the drug, wrapped in adhesive tape and aluminum foil.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office notified the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which sent special agents to interview Ahumada Martínez, who confessed his responsibility.
“She said she was going to transport the narcotics hidden in the vehicle to San Antonio, Texas […] Martínez also said that she has also transported narcotics in the past,” the complaint from the US authorities states.
On Monday, June 12, 2023, after appearing during a first hearing in the Southern District Court of Texas, based in McAllen, Judge Juan F. Alanís denied the Reynosa councilwoman the right to bail.
Ahumada Martínez arrived at the Reynosa City Council as a plurinominal councilwoman of the PVEM. However, during the campaign for the 2022 governorship, she allied herself with the PAN, resigned from the PVEM and actively participated in the promotion of César Augusto Verástegui Ostos, alias “El Truko”, former candidate of the alliance between the PAN, Institutional Revolutionary (PRI) and Democratic Revolution (PRD) parties.
The detained councilwoman has a degree in International Relations, and before entering politics, she worked coordinating imports and exports through the Internet and supervising inventory in a manufacturing company.
After disapproving of the incident and asking for an investigation, Cantú Galván, local deputy and state leader of the PAN in Tamaulipas, distanced himself from Ahumada Martínez, arguing that she belonged to the PVEM and then went over to National Action, but did not join.
“She was elected by the Green Party, decided to leave her party and ask for a political agreement, to be in National Action. That agreement was carried out and fulfilled at the time […] Unfortunately, for months she stopped having communication with the party and did not attend the calls that were made to her,” Cantú Galván insisted.
“She is related to me because I am the president of the PAN. When she made the decision to leave the Green Party and join National Action, we have always been a party with open doors, inclusive and with a councilwoman,” said the local deputy.
Cantú Galván said that a month earlier he met with Ahumada Martínez, through the Municipal Committee of the PAN, during a meeting with councilmen. “No, she is not my friend, I did not know about that, in the end I did not know, I never had a conversation other than what really matters to us, which is the city,” he said.
For his part, the National Delegate of the PVEM in Tamaulipas, Sergio Ernesto Gutiérrez Villanueva, said that it was the president of the state PAN and Senator Ismael García Cabeza de Vaca himself, who integrated Ahumada Martínez into their team in the municipality of Reynosa.
“In the PVEM we do not have disloyal members, much less those with bad morals, that is why we completely disassociate this alleged criminal from our movement,” said the state delegate of the Mexican Green Ecologist Party in Tamaulipas.
Source: zetatijuana
