“ El Nalgon” Prepares For His Return to Mexico

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Zeta

                                           Manuel Arturo Villarreal Heredia, "El Nalgon"

Manuel Arturo Villarreal Heredia's  attorneys are promoting at least three amparo lawsuits to fight arrest warrants that are in force in Baja California and the State of Mexico. The lieutenant of the Arellano Félix Cartel claims that he will soon be released from a California prison, but his sentence was 30 years in prison. In his demands for guarantees in Mexico, he says that federal agents have frequently visited his parents and relatives to warn them that they will arrest him.

Drug trafficker Manuel Arturo Villarreal Heredia "El Nalgón", former cell leader of the Arellano Félix Cartel (CAF) and currently a prisoner in the United States, has been preparing for  his return to Mexico since last year. He considers that he will soon regain his freedom in the United States, and for this reason his lawyers have filed three amparo proceedings in various entities against possible arrest warrants to be completed.

To date, the guarantee trials have been "rampantly fought over " between judges from Baja California, the State of Mexico and Jalisco, arguing - some against others - that they are not competent to hear Villarreal's requests, but finally higher courts have determined that judicial authorities of the last two states will be the ones which resolve the issues.

Thus, the lawsuits are filed in the Fourth District Court of Amparo in Criminal Matters of Jalisco (740/2017), and Second and Fourth District in Matters of Amparo and Federal Judgments in the State of Mexico (755/2018 and 757/2018, respectively).

Although the criminal act against the accused is the same, arrest warrants issued against "El Nalgón", the responsible authorities are different, since it has been detected that there are arrest warrants against the complainant in the First and Fourth District Courts of Federal Criminal Proceedings in the State of Mexico, and in the Sixth District Court of Baja California, for organized crime and crimes against health.

In his generic brief presented in the various courts by his defenders, Villarreal Heredia states:

"It is the case that on August 14, 2006, the undersigned now complains; I was intercepted by North American authorities in the State of Baja California Sur and transferred to the City of San Diego, California, United States of America, by virtue of an apparent investigation carried out in that country, which is why I am currently retained in that country, at the disposal of federal authorities . "

"El Nalgón" confirms that he has been informed that several district judges in Guadalajara, Mexico City, Toluca, Mexicali and Ensenada, claim him based on arrest warrants issued against him, without knowing the crimes allegedly attributed to him. . His relatives have told him that on various dates, investigative ministerial police have prowled the real estate of his family.

"It is the case that as the undersigned currently I am imprisoned and next wish to obtain my freedom.  In one of the visits of my relatives , they informed me that various armed people dressed in civilian clothes, which were identified as Federal Investigative Agents dependent on the Attorney General's Office, have been presenting themselves to the address of my parents, who stated that they were searching for me with the purpose of completing several arrest warrants issued against me by District Judges of Federal Criminal Proceedings , " Manuel Arturo said.

12 Years a Prisoner:

Villareal Heredia, who says he will soon be released from US justice, was sentenced in 2008 by a federal court in San Diego, California, to a term of 30 years in prison. The Tijuana native was convicted of trafficking hundreds of tons of drugs to the United States, ordering some homicides and paying millions of dollars in bribes to the authorities.

At that time, with 32 years of age, "El Nalgón" was also sentenced to pay a fine of $5,000,000 dollars. Previously he pleaded guilty to operating a company intended to make investments to launder money from the sale of drugs. His employer, Javier Arellano Félix, with whom he was arrested, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment, although later the sentence was reduced to 23 years in prison.

In the amparo suit, similar in several courts, the complainant states that in these unexpected visits of alleged police to his family, "what they did say is that, as soon as I, the undersigned, obtained my freedom, they would proceed to arrest me and make me available to the authorities that had released the various arrest warrants, a circumstance that has not happened so far, but I have a well-founded fear that at any moment  Federal Agents of Investigation, in compliance with the aforementioned order, will arrest me once I have obtained my freedom. "

The aforementioned police appearances near the homes of Arturo Villarreal's family began in March 2017, and are repeated at least once a month; including in the four states where the arrest warrants exist or he has relatives: Baja California, Jalisco, State of Mexico and Mexico City.

"Now they have told my relatives and neighbors as much that they were searching for me in order to stop me and lock me up; and I will probably be subject to mistreatment and humiliation, as well as isolated so I will have to confess of criminal acts that I have not committed, " continues a repetitive document that expresses the feeling of the alleged capo, who also uses the name of Arturo Villarreal Barragan.

The condemned prisoner in the United States concluded with the argument: "that proceeds in law allow for the demand of guarantees, since the fact that as the undersigned I am totally out of national territory (Mexico) and available to federal authorities in the United States, this does not preclude me from going for the demand of guarantees since I complain about acts emanated by Mexican authorities that transcend my legal situation, which is why this lawsuit has effects in the national territory " .

So far, in their justified reports, several judges have corroborated the existence of arrest warrants in Tijuana and Toluca for various federal crimes, although some criminal cases have changed from the Court due to the disappearance or merger of some of them.

One of the arrest warrants is in the Fourth District Judge of the Federal Criminal Proceedings in the State of Mexico since December 22, 2006. 

Another was issued by the Sixth District Court in the State of Baja California, according to a report from the 31st. January 2007. The amparo proceedings are pending resolution.