Interpol Issued Arrest Warrants Against Former Pueblo State Authorities inc ex-Gov Mario Marín Torres

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Zeta y Milenio

The former Governor of the state of Puebla, Mario Marín Torres has an arrest warrant for his alleged responsibility in the crime of torture against the journalist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, committed in 2005.

Alejandro Gertz Manero, head of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR), said that since April 16 the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued a "red alert", ie arrest warrant, to capture Mario Plutarco Marín Torres, former governor of Puebla, accused of the crime of torture to the detriment of journalist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, which occurred in 2005.

"On the same day" that we had the arrest warrant that we requested, the "red alert" was issued [...] " "Whoever said otherwise is not telling the truth, " said Alejandro Gertz Manero at a press conference.

The investigation carried out by the journalist and published portrays a network of human trafficking, child prostitution and pedophilia, which involves businessmen and politicians with ties to organized crime which led to a complaint, slander and defamation suit against the journalist by the businessman of Lebanese origin, cousin of Miguel Borge Martín and uncle of Roberto Borge Angulo, both former governors of Quintana Roo. Her book is entitled: Los Demonios del Edén ( The Devils of Eden )

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro was arrested on December 16, 2005, by the then Judicial Police of Puebla, in the city of Cancún, Quintana Roo, outside the Comprehensive Center for Attention to Women and Children AC (CIAM), to be later transferred overland to the capital of Puebla.

During the journey of more than 15 hours, the journalist was subjected to torture, in addition to which was later demonstrated gender discrimination, reason for torture and sexualized treatment. Despite being the victim, on December 23, 2005, the Fifth Judge of the Criminal Court of Puebla issued a formal prison sentence against Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, for the crimes of defamation and slander.

However, after the payment of a bond, the journalist obtained her freedom, but was forced to sign in each month. Then, on January 17, 2006, Cacho Ribeiro was exonerated after an appeal of her defense before the Superior Court of Justice of the State of Puebla.

On March 13, 2006, the journalist filed a counterclaim with the then Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) and the Special Prosecutor for the Attention of Crimes Related to Acts of Violence Against Women (FEMIV).

Months after an audio was broadcast between the then governor of Puebla and Nacif Borge, who showed his complicity in the arrest of the journalist, as determined by the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations Organization (UN-DH), that on August 2 they ruled in favor of Lydia Cacho Ribeiro and demanded that the Mexican State fully make reparations to the journalist.

The head of the FGR added that the "red alert" for the search in 194 countries was also issued for the other people involved in the case of the torture of Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, among them the businessman of Lebanese origin Kamel Nacif Borge.

Last month, Judge María Elena Suárez, head of the First Twenty-Seventh Circuit Court of the Federal Court, ordered the arrest of the former governor, the businessman, as well as the former head of the Judicial Police of Puebla, Juan Sánchez Moreno, and the former deputy director of injunctions, Hugo Adolfo Karam Bernal.

The decision reversed the decision of the Second District Judge in Quintana Roo, who last year denied the arrest warrant to the then Attorney General's Office (PGR).

In December of 2018 elements of the Agency of Criminal Investigation (AIC) apprehended in Puebla  the policeman, Alejandro Rocha Laureano, by his probable responsibility in the mentioned crime, since supposedly he participated in the fulfillment of an order of apprehension against Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, in 2005.

The arrest warrants were released on April 11, one month after the 14th anniversary of the torture suffered by the journalist, who used her account on the social network Twitter to point out that in the case there has been corruption, and remembered the harassment she suffered, to the point that she felt the need to leave the country.

The journalist was arrested that same year for the probable commission of the crimes of defamation and slander, charges presented by Nacif Borge, known as "The King of Denim", because of the publication of the book, ''The Demons of Eden'', the one that Lydia Cacho Ribeiro documented trafficking in persons, child prostitution and pedophilia.

At the time, audios of the calls between Kamel Nacif and ex Gov Marín Torres were announced, in which the then governor expressed his support for the businessman to impose a defamation suit against  the journalist.

The case reached the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), where a Commission of Inquiry was formed. However, the Plenary refrained from pointing out that the former governor as allegedly responsible for the violation of the journalist's individual rights.

This is due to the fact that the existence of a serious lack of Lydia Cacho Ribeiro's rights was not demonstrated, in terms of Article 97 of the Constitution, which is why, according to the SCJN, a ruling on the case was not necessary, Supreme Court concluded the matter.

The Plenary of the SCJN indicated that although the Investigating Commission uncovered some improper acts and violation of the journalist's individual guarantees, during her transfer from Quintana Roo to Puebla, these were not serious, but "minor", so  were discarded the existence of a "concert of authorities" of an attempt against Cacho Ribeiro.

However, Minister Juan N. Silva Meza, in charge of the Commission, defended the opinion presented and declared: "I am fully convinced that in a constitutional and democratic state of law, impunity has no place."

Not to be forgotten:
Alejandro "R", alleged torturer of the journalist, writer and activist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, was arrested. The PGR confirmed the arrest, carried out by elements of the Criminal Investigation Agency. Alejandro "R", 53 years old and who worked as an active element of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Puebla, was located in an address on Puebla Avenue.

According to ministerial investigations, the subject participated in the violent arrest of Cacho in 2005, in Cancún, Quintana Roo. The detainee is now required by the Second District Judge in the state of Quintana Roo.

The former governor of Puebla, Mario Marín Torres, the former director of the Judicial Police, Adolfo Karam Beltrán and the former judicial police Juan Sánchez Moreno, filed an application for amparo before a unitary tribunal based in the state of Quintana Roo with the purpose of avoiding being arrested and the authority decided to grant the suspension but whenever it is a serious crime of which they are accused as it is the torture can be stopped at any moment, as in fact already happened in the case of Sánchez Moreno yesterday, Tuesday.

The file of the application for amparo filed by Marín Torres states: "On the understanding that this measure implies that in the event that the crime for which the act has been dismissed does not merit informal preventive detention or is not qualified as a serious crime in the applicable procedural legislation, the suspension will produce the effect that the complainant is not deprived of his or her personal liberty, the aforementioned being not certain of the act claimed. On the other hand, if it were the hypothesis that the crime for which the act claimed was carried out is qualified as serious in the applicable adjective legislation or merits informal preventive detention, the suspension here granted will only produce the effect that the complainant , once detained, remain at the disposal of this Unitary Circuit Court regarding their personal liberty,

The Court's decision therefore indicates that the suspension granted only has the effect that, in case of being detained, the former governor can not be transferred to a different prison, who may be detained and states that the suspension does not prevent detention for part of the ministerial authorities when dealing with a serious crime.

The same ruling applies to the amparo requested by Adolfo Karam Beltrán, who was the head of the then Judicial Police converted into the Ministerial Police, at the time of the arrest of the journalist Lydia Cacho and therefore responsible for the police officers who executed the order of apprehension against the author "The Demons of Eden".

It is striking that the three former officials are in the requests for protection but there are no records of illegal activity of Kamel Nacif Borge, also implicated in the case of torture against the writer.

Last month, magistrate María Elena Suárez , head of the First Twenty-Seventh Circuit Court of the Federal Court, ordered the arrest of the former governor as well as businessman Kamel Nacif Borge.

The arrest was also ordered of the former head of the Judicial Police of Puebla, Juan Sánchez Moreno and of the former deputy director of judicial injunctions, Hugo Adolfo Karam .

The decision reversed the decision of the Second District Judge in Quintana Roo, who last year denied the arrest warrant to the then Attorney General's Office .

But, the minister Juan N. Silva Meza, in charge of the commission, defended the presented opinion and declared: "I have the full conviction that in a constitutional and democratic state of law, impunity has no place."