New arrest warrant for Hipolito Mora, suspected of kidnapping

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

Mora and Mireles after Mor's release, speaking at the university of Mexico City

A new arrest warrant is confirmed for former autodefensa founder Hipolito Mora Chavez.  When Mora was released from prison, he accepted Commissioner Alfredo Castillo's offer to join the federal government generated Michoacán police known as the Rurales.

He had been  imprisoned on charges of murder, which in reality, stemmed from a personal dispute with then leader of Buenavista autodefensas (H3) El Americano, who is now one of the Castillo handpicked commanders of the Rurales.  Americano has been plagued with rumors of having ties to Viagras cartel since the onset of his  AD group.  

In March, BB began posting a screen shot of Americano with Tuta and the viagras leader Carols Sierra Santana.  BB posted the screenshot each month since March; finally it went viral in August.  So much so the state had no choice but to "investigate" and “interrogate”  Americano.  

Of course he said the man in the photo was not him, and of course the state PGJE agency’s investigation declared it not him, by "image enhancing tools", yet the PGR did not offer one enhanced image of evidence.  Residents of Michoacán largely discounted the investigation findings, based on the deep mistrust of the state government and its agencies that are deemed corrupt by the people. 
   

When released from prison, Mora joined Dr. Manuel Mireles and other leading social activists, in their Soy Autodefensa movement.  He later gave into Castillo and joined the Rurales.  Dr Mireles was not bitter and told this reporter, "Lito is doing what he must for the safety of his family.  I understand that, and understand he has been through psychological torture from his incarceration on false charges."  

Perhaps so.

But he then surfaced singing a different tune,  seemingly accusatory against Dr Mireles, subsequent to the doctors arrest. Yet, he chose to say the doctor was wrong to have weapons.  That he broke the law.  It was shocking and a betrayal of his friend, who stood by him and campaigned for Mora's release from prison when the tables were turned.

However, when the Americano photo went viral, Mora came out and began issuing comments and interviews confirming it was Americano in the photo.  It was a gutsy move, albeit unwise, as President Pena appointed Castillo to "bring security" to Michoacan.  It was Castillo who created the Rurales, its his baby, for him to concede that the group is comprised of criminals, and led by criminals, in collusion with organized crime, would be a huge personal blow.

After Mora began speaking out about Americano and the woes of rurales not being paid and half have no weapons, the arrest warrant initiated.

The new arrest warrant for  Hipolito  Mora, is for the crime of kidnapping. Yet,  the founder of the self-defense of  La Ruana Michoacán, continues working as a member of the State Rural Force.

The new warrant was confirmed by the Second Court of Michoacán.  According to the record 810/2014, Chávez and José Arnulfo Mora Torres sought the protection of the federal courts on August 21, (amparo) as they feared that they were going to stop based on a complaint against him by the inhabitants of the town of Yurécuaro.

"Someone claimed that I was with my people in Yurécuaro  and we took a person, and that's a lie, because I've never been to Yurécuaro" Mora said.  


He said yesterday that Michoacán is now worse than ever, "The good sit in jail and the bad on the streets and on the roads, "said Mora, the commander of the Rurales force. 

When Mora was previously arrested, it was based on the testimony of one person, yet he was imprisoned for months.   

Perhaps the arrest warrant is simply a warning, to keep his mouth shut and fall into line.  He knows well what happens to people that buck the system and have a platform to criticize the government. He look no further than the doctor who sits in the Hermosillo federal prison.

a second story....

Mexican Government's Method of Quelling Activism...Imprisoning  leaders

"I see more clearly, and I admire even more the strength and dignity of other social activists who are in the same situation as I, such as (José Manuel) Mireles, Michoacan; Nestora Salgado, Juan Carlos Flores and Enedina Rosas, Puebla, and many others who face unjust punishment."

They accuse Mario Luna Romero of the alleged crimes of illegal deprivation of liberty and vehicular theft to the detriment of Viviana Bacasegua and Francisco Delgado Romo.

Although the Yaqui tribal spokesman denies involvement in these events, the Sonora Attorney General arrested Luna Romero last week, and he is currently being held at the Center for Social Rehabilitation #2 in Hermosillo, awaiting definition of his legal situation.

From prison, Luna responded to a set of questions submitted by La Jornada in which he stated that there is no valid legal argument for him to be held; thus, he declared himself a political prisoner. In refuting the charges, he said:

"It is clearly evident that I am a political prisoner, because they are violating all my political, constitutional and human rights. They accuse me of a nonexistent crime, in which I was not a participant."

His arrest, he explains, is made ​​in the context of persecution against those who fight to defend their territory:

"I see more clearly, and I admire even more the strength and dignity of other social activists who are in the same situation as I, such as (José Manuel) Mireles, Michoacan; Nestora Salgado, Juan Carlos Flores and Enedina Rosas, Puebla, and many others who face unjust punishment."

The spokesman for the Yaqui tribe that maintains fierce opposition to construction of the Independence Aqueduct promoted by Governor Guillermo Padrés, warned his colleagues that they must not fall "into the perverse game" of the government by focusing their struggle on his release and neglecting the struggle for the water and territory.

Luna Romero also holds Governor Padrés Elías responsible for what might happen to him and his family.

A member of the authority of Vícam, one of eight villages that make up the [Yaqui] tribe, Luna Romero believes that his arrest has occurred in a situation in which the state and federal governments are immersed in a "media struggle" because no one wants to take legal, political and social responsibility for corrupt and irresponsible actions that have led to misappropriation of public funds, and the stockpiling and sale of natural resources such as water and minerals.

This, Luna explains, is not to forget either the large plots in Hermosillo and other parts of the Sonoran mountain range, or such "criminal actions" as rationing water for people in the state capital.

To this outlook, he says, is added the revelation that at the same time as the Independence Aqueduct [was being built], Padrés Elías constructed a dam with a capacity of four billion cubic meters [1.1 trillion cubic gallons] for his private use. In so doing, he deprives the [downstream] Yaqui tribe of water,

"without a minimal environmental impact study, much less any justification. And all before the complacency and complicit silence of CONAGUA [National Water Commission], PROFEPA [Federal Prosecutor for Environmental Protection], SEMARNAT [Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources] and all the others."

As if this weren't enough, Luna Romero recounts the matter of the contamination of the Sonora River, which should supply water to the city of Hermosillo and its inhabitants.

All this happens while 3,000 hectares [7,413 acres] of agricultural land is opened, and real estate development is projected with artificial lakes and water parks; meanwhile the government is organizing a campaign of "racial hatred" against the Yaqui tribe by fabricating crime scenes in order to discredit advocates for the Yaqui River.

Luna considers it ironic that "a dance of billions of pesos" is announced to silence the protests of the inhabitants along the banks of the Sonora River, while

"they persecute and imprison spokesmen of the Yaqui tribe in order not to comply with judicial decisions ordering a stop to operation of the Independence Aqueduct and its subsequent decommissioning."

The Yaqui leader observed that since his arrival at the prison, he has received expressions of support from inside and outside the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and more than 150 member organizations of the Civil Monitoring Mission, demanding his immediate release.

Mario Luna's defense requested an extension of the constitutional deadline [72 hours] that expired on Wednesday at 2:00 PM and reserved Luna's right to make his preliminary statement. On Monday, September 15, his lawyers brought witnesses to make formal statements before the Third Criminal Court stating as fact that the Yaqui leader was not at the scene of the events attributed to him.

Meanwhile, to protest the arrest of their leader, the Yaquis of Vicam today blocked the federal Mexico-Nogales highway, which is the only international northwest route through Mexico. The protesters put logs, rocks and tires on the asphalt to prevent the free movement of any motor vehicle, including trailers, tankers, passenger buses and private cars. Only ambulances and emergency vehicles were allowed to pass.

Dozens of vehicles were stranded on the Mexico-Nogales highway that connects commercial transactions overland through Northwest Mexico to the West Coast of the United

Zapatistas express their solidarity and support

La Jornada

 Proceso