El Marro didn't show up at his "daughter's birthday".....and evaded capture

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat   Milenio

It was supposed to be a set up in the capture of El Marro.

A phone call intercepted by federal authorities, which revealed he planned to visit his daughter for her birthday last weekend, led to an operation in which they failed at capturing  him but it did cost his mother, sister, and his cousin, their freedom.

According to information confirmed by MILENIO with first-rate sources, it was on Friday when the National Intelligence Center detected a telephone conversation in which José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, El Marro had contemplated his possible presence at the celebration.

Authorities hoped that the Huachicolero (fuel theft) leader to spend Father's Day behind bars.

But once again, they failed.

From Mexico City, in a matter of hours, an operation was orchestrated in which no other authority would be informed to avoid leaks. They left on Saturday morning heading to Guanajuato and they had detected a ranch in the rural community of Celaya where it was assessed, that the party would be. Without further details, the Guanajuato State Attorney General's Office asked for rapid approval for searches and thus avoid stumbling blocks, as happened with the capture of El Marro wife, who had to be released due to lack of basic legal paperwork.

The “party” that the National Intelligence Center heard about, turned out to be payroll payment to the base of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel. Most of them women and several minors who served the hired killers for no more than three thousand pesos.

Although the Army preferred to act alone, they had to ask for help from the state government.  They met three trucks on the way, from which 20 people descended, stoning them so they would not approach, and others began to jump the fences to join the attacks against the soldiers.  (these are obstructionists that work for Marro to create chaos in stoning, fires, roadblocks) In total, 300 elements of the state forces came to the support so that the federal troops could advance.

EL Marro was not where they expected. There was no party, nor was his daughter present. But there was María, the mother of the criminal who at first appeared under a different name and whose identity the soldiers did not know until it was confirmed by state authorities.

Until now, it has not been possible to confirm that Maria has acted illegally,  but rather was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

At the ranch was a suitcase with two million pesos to pay the collaborators of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel,  there were stolen weapons, drugs and vehicles. María ended up behind bars just like her husband, while her son continues to challenge the authorities.

El Marro did not visit his daughter to celebrate Father's Day, nor could he congratulate his father in prison. The only thing left to do was to flee, with the little he still has and the rage of having taken her family to prison.