Today he is a local deputy for the Labor Party, but more than 21 years ago, Leonardo Almaguer Castañeda was part of a gang made up of university students and a high school teacher, dedicated to robbing beer delivery trucks.
The stolen merchandise was for personal consumption and sale in their own businesses, according to news reports published by MURAL at the time.
The group, made up of young people studying at the University of Guadalajara (UdeG), began its activities by stealing beer from trucks to finance school parties.
Later, they evolved into a more organized structure, committing at least nine robberies against breweries since December 2003, according to investigations by the then State Attorney General’s Office.
According to information published by this media outlet, one of those arrested was Guillermo Barajas Rivera, a physics teacher at Preparatory School 10 of the UdeG.
The other identified members included Marco Antonio Urbano Martínez, nicknamed “Sico,” Arturo Hernández Muñoz “El Fantasma,” who was identified as the leader by authorities, Octavio Aguirre Morabela, Juan Carlos Mora Zepeda, alias “Pollo,” and Leonardo Almaguer Castañeda, now a local congressman.
The gang’s modus operandi consisted of intercepting delivery trucks, stealing the cargo, and using support vehicles to escort the transport.
The merchandise was unloaded at a farm located on Río Blanco Street, in the Bosques del Centinela neighborhood, owned by the family of one of the suspects, and subsequently distributed or sold at three liquor stores controlled by members of the group—owned by “Pollo,” Professor Barajas, and “Sico.”
The final blow to the gang occurred on the morning of Wednesday, September 1, 2004, when agents from the Attorney General’s Office spotted a gray Ford Lobo pickup truck leaving the farm, matching the description of vehicles used in the robberies. At the start of the pursuit, they spotted a beer truck escorted by a Chevy and a Shadow. They stopped the delivery driver, Leonardo Almaguer, who—according to the official version—betrayed his accomplices.
In the operation, they seized four vehicles, nearly 300 cases of beer valued at approximately 80,000 pesos, and shut down the farm and the three liquor stores. “El Fantasma” denied being the leader and argued that he only lent the farm to unload the merchandise.
The detainees were charged with robbery and organized crime before the corresponding court.
Twenty-one years later, Leonardo Almaguer is a local deputy for the Labor Party (PT), representing District 13, and coordinates his parliamentary group.
He is a member of the Social Welfare, Family and Children Committee; the Environment Committee; and the Special Committee to Address Matters Related to the Disappearance of Persons, among others. His public profile presents him as a social fighter, a militant for socialism, and a defender of social justice and peace.
Source: alertanews
