The Los Laureles hacienda is one of the best-known and most iconic restaurants in Querétaro. Next door is a Fisher’s restaurant and a nightclub, connected by a large parking lot. There, a group of people were killed early Sunday morning last week inside a Urus SUV, the luxury Lamborghini brand, which costs more than six million pesos.
All media outlets focused on two of the victims: Diego Méndez, son of José de Jesús Méndez Vargas, alias “El Chango Méndez,” founder of the La Familia Michoacana cartel, and Berenice Méndez, alias “La Bere.” Through social media, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel claimed responsibility for the murders amid the dispute over the territory and the expulsion of Méndez Sr. to the United States, along with 28 other drug traffickers, as part of the Mexican government’s offering to Donald Trump to avoid tariffs.
But nothing was said about a third murder. Or rather, someone they tried to make disappear. Secretly, Querétaro authorities began to spread the story that the third victim was a woman, but initial police reports indicated a man. That third fatality was reportedly Justo Rivera, one of the figures closest to Amílcar Olán Aparicio, the leader of “El Clan,” the influence-peddling network of former President López Obrador’s sons.
Those familiar with the ins and outs of “El Clan” say that Justo was largely responsible for Amílcar’s entry into the healthcare business. He explained to him the benefits of quick payments and high profit margins.
How did they meet? Amílcar is from Tabasco, and Justo is originally from Chiapas. Both political groups are practically one and the same, as Justo is also considered the right-hand man and operative of Rutilio Escandón, the former Morena governor of Chiapas and current consul in Miami.
After the murders of these individuals, the government called the country’s two largest television stations to request a halt to the news. Both agreed. Local reporters in Querétaro also faced the news blackout, wondering: what happened there and why so much silence?
One clue was provided by Diario Cambio 22 of the Yucatán Peninsula, with a wide presence throughout southeastern Mexico. In a story published earlier this week, it revealed that the third person killed that night in Querétaro was none other than Justo Rivera, and provided a key image. The man appears posing next to the Urus SUV the day he acquired it. The same Urus SUV, with license plates from Chiapas, is where the victims were shot to death.
This raises a series of questions: Were the killers really after Diego Méndez, or were they rather after those who were with him? Why did the Querétaro authorities change their initial version of events? What’s being hidden? Who is the federal government trying to protect to ask for these media favors?
Stent: The release of “Don Chuy,” leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Zacapu, exposed a rift in the Attorney General’s Office. The prosecutor who botched the capture due to his poor performance didn’t stand up at the hearing to take responsibility. The prosecutor who was supposed to take the stand has it in for her.
Source: eluniversal
