El Marro's Five Escapes

Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from La Silla Rota

                      

Sometimes he went through secret doors and sometimes through the roof, according to testimonies. El Marro lives on the run and he has escaped five times so far.

Related Post:  Guanajuato: Violence erupts in Celaya, sparked reports of El Marro being captured

by Pablo Cesar Carrillo

In one year, José Antonio Yepez, "El Marro” has managed to escape from five different state and federal government special operations to capture him.

The authorities have arrested more than 300 of El Marro's employees, including his main lieutenants and operators, but the Villagrán criminal has always had an escape plan in all of his hiding places. Sometimes he went through secret doors and other times through the roof, according to testimonies.

El Marro lives on the run and he has escaped five times already:

1. The escape of March 3, 2019.

José Antonio Yepez's first escape was on March 3 when Operation Golpe de Timón began. El Marro's hiding place was fully identified in the strategy to capture him, but a last minute tip-off may have given him the information he needed in order escape a few hours earlier. 

When the Mexican Army, the State Public Security Forces, and the Guanajuato Attorney General entered, El Marro had already escaped. It is still unclear how the head of the Santa Rosa Cartel managed to escape. The investigation had been going on for several weeks and there were aerial photographs and intelligent work done of the area.

2.- The escape from La Cueva.

At the end of October, state and federal authorities had information that El Marro was hiding in a cave in the municipality of Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas. There was a large operation and when they arrived there was nothing in the cave but an altar to the Virgin of Guadalupe, of which El Marro is a devotee. Authorities found clothing and food. José Antonio Yepez had managed to escape a few hours earlier.

3.- The day he ran away, beaten and weak.

On November 27, investigators from the State Attorney General's Office and Navy almost captured El Marro again, now in the municipality of Juventino Rosas.

"All beaten, weak, on one foot, and in poor physical condition,” as described by the witnesses who saw him in his flight. "The criminal threw himself off a fence and had difficulty running," said a woman who saw him escape.

4.- The day his wife was caught.

On January 30, Karina Mora Villalobos, the wife of José Antonio Yepez, was captured in the community of San Miguel Octopan, in Celaya. Days later it became known that Karina planned to meet with her husband El Marro but the police had been following her for days. The operation was exposed and Karina Mora's meeting with her husband, El Marro, was interrupted. She was released by a federal judge.

5.- The false capture of El Marro.

The fifth escape from El Marro was this March 10, 2020 in Celaya. The state and federal authorities carried out a large operation in several municipalities, looking for José Antonio Yepez and again they were close to capturing him. Criminals responded with a series of blockades on various roads. In fact, El Marro’s capture was believed to have been true but was finally denied by the Secretary of the Government of Guanajuato, Luis Ernesto Ayala. El Marro's last escape was more high profile as several journalists assumed and reported he had been captured. Thus, the rumor spread that El Marro was detained. It was not the case. El Marro fled again.