The head of the Legal Counsel and Legal Assistance Office, Geovany Vásquez Sagrero, addressed the case and warned that property dispossession is a priority crime for the public administration due to the social harm it causes.
“We do not have any information ourselves, but what commonly happens is that if there is an investigation file already opened, the Prosecutor’s Office is the one that has the evidence,”
the official initially clarified. However, he issued an open invitation to the affected family to intervene immediately:
“We extend the invitation because dispossession as a crime has been a scourge that has greatly harmed our society. We have stated here that there are two types of dispossession: that involving State property and that involving private property.”
The legal adviser explained that, given the seriousness of these complaints, his office acts as a support arm for citizens and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, accelerating processes that were previously bogged down by bureaucracy.
“When people come to us and we find a matter of this nature, we immediately open the corresponding files, something that was not done before. If people who feel they have been dispossessed contact us, we immediately cross-check information with the Cadastre Institute and the Registry Office. We have always been open to providing all documentation and information and to reviewing the registered chain of title of the property,”
Vásquez Sagrero explained, emphasizing that this close coordination provides prosecutors with key tools for resolving such cases.
A Pattern of Violence: The Audiffred Family Case
The government’s reaction comes after the public complaint filed by the family of Miguel Ángel Audiffred, former curator of the Frissell Museum in Mitla and owner since 2004 of two properties in the exclusive Conejos subdivision.
According to the family, the researcher’s vulnerable condition due to deteriorating health was allegedly exploited by a neighbor who attempted to force him to transfer the properties for a minimal amount of money.
When that failed, the conflict allegedly escalated into a campaign of harassment that included the destruction of palapas on the property and the illegal promotion of the land on social media. Despite the fact that the researcher’s children filed five criminal complaints, the violence reached an extreme level.
On May 29, 2025, a young man allegedly threatened Cecilia Audiffred, the owner’s daughter, with death, demanding that she vacate the house under the claim that “it had already been sold.”
According to the public complaint, the most critical incident occurred on July 5, 2025, when four armed men broke into the house, subdued Cecilia, and kidnapped her in broad daylight.
As she was being forced into a vehicle, the victim reportedly saw a neighbor and an alleged lawyer reviewing her father’s documents inside the property. After being blindfolded and taken toward the Santa Cruz Marina, she was eventually abandoned near the Copalita River area, where she managed to seek help.
Days later, an inspection by the Prosecutor’s Office found workers remodeling the house under the orders of another neighbor, an engineer with the surname Forte. When the family regained possession of the property, they discovered that it had been completely vandalized: walls torn down, floors removed, and electrical installations stripped.
Scrutiny of Notaries and Real Estate Intermediaries
The Audiffred family argues that this modus operandi—targeting elderly or ill people who live alone in order to intimidate them, occupy their homes, and sell them through irregular intermediaries—operates as a network of organized crime in Huatulco.
In response, legal adviser Geovany Vásquez Sagrero warned that the State’s investigation also extends to public notaries who participate in these irregularities, using specialized technology to detect real estate fraud.
“When we find a notarial instrument, if the notary is still alive, we immediately order a special inspection of that book and protocol in order to provide elements for the investigation. And if the notary has died, the first thing we do is verify through ultraviolet light whether the protocol has been manipulated, because we have also found cases like that, and determine whether the deed is genuine or not,”
he revealed.
The official concluded by reiterating the invitation to the affected parties to provide cadastral and registry data in order to speed up the criminal investigations.
“We extend the invitation: if they have the data, we will gladly receive it. That is what public registries are for, and we have the commitment and responsibility to provide support so that investigations are not delayed.”
Source: nvinoticias
