Before His Execution, Former Congressman Says He Worked For RCQ's La Plaza in Sonora

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat  

A former Congressman was abducted in Guaymas, Sonora. Then a video interrogation was released in which he confesses, just before being executed, that he was secretly working Rafael Caro Quintero’s La Plaza and giving them access to government surveillance cameras.

Quick Background 

Rafael Caro Quintero’s Caborca Cartel has a subgroup called La Plaza which allegedly controls Guaymas municipality, which is in the southern part of the state of Sonora. Meanwhile the Sinaloa Cartel has a subgroup called Los Salazars which allegedly controls the nearby municipality of Navajoa. 

For the past few years, Los Salazars have been getting into intermittent territory fights with La Plaza and the group “Los Olivas”, who also work under the Caborca Cartel and is allied to La Plaza.

Two important local officials to keep in mind for the following story is the State Attorney General, Claudia Indira Contreras, and the police chief of Guaymas municipality, Andrés Humberto Cano Ahuir. 

It is important to note that previous narcomantas, or narco message banners, have accused police chief Cano Ahuir of using his power and influence within the police department to aid Los Salazars.

Timeline of Events in Guaymas

On November 25, 2021, Karla Córdova, the current Guaymas mayor, along with police chief Cano Ahuir and eight bodyguards visited a group of women who were peacefully demonstrating in honor of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women outside Guaymas city hall. 

A group of armed men opened fire on them and the mayor’s security team returned fire. The shooting ultimately left a bodyguard and one of the women demonstrating, named Marisol Cuadras, dead. One of the armed attackers was also killed in the exchange.

Multiple government officials later stated that the intended target of the attack was police chief Cano Ahuir, because he had received threats. Among those who reported Cano Ahuir as the real target was the state’s Attorney General Claudia Indira Contreras. 

Many news outlets such as Excélsior and La Silla Rota reported that the Naval intelligence sources they spoke to said there are indications of the involvement of the group La Plaza in the city hall shooting. (For more details, see this previous Borderland Beat story linked here.) 

Attorney General Indira Contreras announced that the Attorney General’s Office has conducted 11 searches so far in the investigation into the city hall shooting. She also stated that the searches had resulted in the interrogation and arrest of 11 people, all charged with drug possession offenses.

On December 7, 2021, two narcomantas were placed on bridges in Guaymas which told Attorney General Indira Contreras: “Don’t fabricate evidence. Tell the truth about who did the attack on the Palace, the person responsible is police chief Cano who orchestrated everything. State your opinions with truth, don’t continue to sell out to Los Salazars.” 

The narcomantas also shared the alleged names and showed photos alleged to depict the top three Los Salazar lieutenants. The narcomanta ends unsigned, with no cartel group explicitly taking credit for the message; however it is likely that La Plaza was behind the creation and placement of the banners. 

These narcomantas appear to allege that police chief Cano Ahuir was behind the planning of the attack however it did not clarify the possible motive Ahuir would have in faking such an attack. (For more details, see this previous Borderland Beat story linked here.)

More narcomantas are placed in Guaymas, this time they claim that Cano Ahuri’s alleged motive behind “committing an unprecedented act of terrorism was for the Navy, the Prosecutor's Office, and the PEI, so that they’d support you. And in turn, you’d be able to continue in your position in government that you have shown you don’t deserve.” These banners are unsigned, much like the previous ones. (For more details, see this previous Borderland Beat story linked here.)

Police Chief Cano Ahuir announces he will be resigning from his position. A new police chief named Eladio Amaya Muñíz takes over the position.

Attorney General Indira Contreras reported that four people had now been arrested as a part of the Attorney General’s Office’s investigation into the city hall attack. This time all four detainees were suspected of being directly involved in the city hall shooting and not merely taken in on drug possession charges.

Former Congressman Rodolfo Lizárraga was inside his home in Guaymas when at least two armed men broke in and held him at gunpoint. The incident was later reported to police and the report detailed that the armed men did not attempt to kill Rodolfo Lizárraga. 

What can we make of this strange incident? As some background, back in March 2021, Congressman Rodolfo Lizárraga requested a leave of absence from representing District 13 of the Sonora State Congress, which represents part of Guaymas, because he planned to campaign to become the mayor of Guaymas. The state Congress approved his requested leave of absence and local politician Daniel Palafox Suárez was selected to take over Rodolfo Lizárraga’s position. On March 9, 2021, Daniel Palafox Suárez officially began his term as the new congressman. Rodolfo Lizárraga ultimately lost the mayoral election.

According to later statements by the Attorney General’s Office, when Rodolfo Lizárraga began his run for mayor, he requested a large loan from an unspecified someone in order to finance his political campaign. When he failed to win the position, Rodolfo Lizárraga was told to repay the loan; however he evidently did not pay the person back enough, or at all. 

At some point in January 2022, the unspecified person who lent Rodolfo Lizárraga the money caught wind that Lizárraga had allegedly been stockpiling a large amount of cash inside his home, reportedly 7 million pesos (or approximately $340,718 USD) hidden in a mattress. This man then sent at least two armed men to demand Lizárraga repay him the money he owed.

The armed men were presumably successful at acquiring the cash Lizárraga had on hand because the crime was officially reported as an armed robbery and the Attorney General’s later statement said that they “obtained that resource illegally.”

Relatives of the aforementioned congressman Daniel Palafox Suárez went to police and reported that Daniel had gone missing from his home in the neighborhood of Colinas de Miramar, located in the city of Guaymas. Daniel was said to have last been seen wearing blue jeans and a blue t-shirt. 

Police officers officially filed a missing persons report based on the statements of Daniel’s relatives and an official investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office was started.

A group of armed men executed police commander Julio César Vidaurrázaga Zamarrón and his bodyguard Efrén Ruiz Rosas in the Colinas de Miramar neighborhood of Guaymas. They were said to be investigating the disappearance of Daniel Palafox Suárez during the time when they were attacked by the armed men.

Daniel Palafox Suárez was found dead. Daniel’s body was found at the roadside shrine to Santa Muerte off the highway, near the exit onto Micaela Ávila Avenue in Empalme municipality.  The Attorney General announced that one of the lines of investigation into Daniel’s death was related to organized crime.

The Attorney General’s Office announced that they have arrested four people for being involved in the armed robbery of Rodolfo Lizárraga. The four people are: 

• Jesús Iván Acevedo Saucedo

• Roberto Palafox Suárez - Note: Roberto is Daniel Palafox Suárez’s brother and legal consultant for the city of Empalme, Sonora.

• Bryan Alberto Suárez Ponce - Note: Bryan is the romantic partner/boyfriend of Rodolfo Lizárraga.

• José Luis Angulo Tapia

Later that day, Rodolfo Lizárraga released his first public comment on the robbery. He said, as translated by Sol Prendido:

Good afternoon to everyone. I must confess that before all of this I wasn’t as close to God. But today I’m convinced that if we’re here and for everything that happens, it’s because of Gods will. I know that all of this will soon enough come to pass. 

I feel calm, at peace, but as the youth are fond of saying: Freaked out a bit. The only thing I’ve done is file a complaint with the attorney general because of what happened at my house. Everything that has happened is due to this. 

  

I’ve never felt hate towards anyone. And I’ll never do this because it’s just not in my nature. There’s never been hate in my heart. Not even for those who’ve come against me. May God bless you all. God willing all this will soon enough come to pass. #OnwardToVictoryAlways #IfGodIsForMeWhoCanBeAgainstMe

So for the sake of clarity, let's review what we now know about the suspects. 

So, one of the people suspected of being involved in the robbery of Rodolfo Lizárraga was his own boyfriend, Bryan Alberto Suárez Ponce. It is worth mentioning, again, that somehow insider information about personal aspects of Rodolfo Lizárraga’s home (i.e. that he was keeping $7 million pesos hidden under his mattress) were leaked to a man who Lizárraga owed money to. A romantic partner could possibly be privy to just that sort of information.  

Another person suspected of being involved in the robbery is Roberto Palafox Suárez, who is the brother of Daniel Palafox Suárez. Daniel is the man who took over Lizárraga’s position in Congress when Lizárraga left Congress to run for mayor. During the robbery, it was demanded that Rodolfo Lizárraga pay back the money he owed to a mysterious lender and $7 million pesos were taken from him. 

Shortly after the robbery of Rodolfo Lizárraga, Daniel Palafox Suárez went missing from his home and was later found dead.

This presents somewhat of a conundrum. The first assumption one might have is that Daniel Palafox Suárez was abducted as retribution for Rodolfo Lizárraga being robbed. 

However, if Rodolfo Lizárraga has allies that are powerful and influential enough to have a former congressman kidnapped and killed, then would Rodolfo Lizárraga have ever needed to take out a loan from a person who works with Roberto and David Palafox Suárez? Wouldn’t Rodolfo Lizárraga have asked his powerful and influential allies for the loan instead?

A video interrogation of Daniel Palafox Suárez, which was filmed shortly before his death, was uploaded and shared on social media. 

In the video Daniel Palafox can be seen handcuffed, sitting on a plastic utility bucket and wearing the clothes he was seen in on the day he disappeared. The video, as seen below, does not show the execution and only shows David being interrogated. The video contains no graphic content.

Video Source: Sonora Informativo

The following is said in the video, as translated by Sol Prendido: 

Interrogator: Who do you work for?

Daniel Palafox Suarez: I work for La Plaza. I set up the internet at their points of interest. Once the internet is set up, they use cameras for surveillance in their areas of operation. 

Interrogator: How does the C-5 support you guys?

Daniel Palafox Suarez: The C-5 helps by giving us information from these cameras, turning them off when it’s needed, and distributing real time intel at any particular moment. 

Please note, C-5 refers to the security program which encompasses all incoming emergency line calls as well as government surveillance camera feeds. It is involved with dispatching security forces to attend to possible criminal incidents. 

Official Government Statements: January 29 FGE Official Statement, February 4 FGE Official Statement, February 8 FGE Official Statement, February 9 SSP Official Statement

Sources: El Universal Article 1, Article 2, El Sol de Hermosillo, El Diario MX, Proyecto Puente Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4, Fronteras Desk, Medios Obson, Dig Logs, La Silla Rota, Enfoque Noticias, Periodico Vanguardia, Expreso, El Imparcial