John Casara, From Agent for a Military Company to Commander in Zacatecas

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

He is a retired agent of the Colombian National Police, who faces a direct accusation for the kidnapping and murder of Iván Espino Colunga, an 18-year-old boy whose body was found last Wednesday, June 6.

A private security company with military and police operations in 26 nations, including regions such as Eastern Europe and countries at war such as Lebanon and Ukraine, was responsible for contacting Colombian John William Casara Luna with the police forces of Mexico.

Casara Luna is a retired agent of the Colombian National Police who now faces a direct accusation for the kidnapping and murder of Iván Espino Colunga, an 18-year-old boy whose body was found last Wednesday, June 6, a few hours after he was taken out of his house, located in the municipality of General Pánfilo Natera, by alleged state police of Zacatecas.

The European Security Academy (ESA) offers training courses for police forces, escorts and even military contractors who are obliged to protect private facilities in war zones.

The company was founded in 1992, has its headquarters in Poland and has extended its operations to Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, where it operates with two subsidiaries called Colombolatina and ColomboLatina Mexico. These companies are the only ones authorized to teach the certified courses offered by the European Academy of Safety.

However, Combolatina Mexico clarified that John Casara did not train with them and is not their instructor, derived from the fact that the Mexican subsidiary began operating at the end of last year.

A spokesperson for Combolatina Mexico added that by official disposition he cannot train foreigners in our country; so the courses and agreements he has achieved with national security forces have no relationship with the Colombian policeman

According to promotional videos of the company itself, the instructors have the capacity to teach up to 10 courses simultaneously in different state and municipal police corporations in our country.

In addition, through its subsidiary ColomboLatina, won a contract to train at least a thousand elements of the Federal Police, in a training center located in Tala, Jalisco, so that they can deploy Special Commandos for the Fight against Urban Guerrilla, Terrorism and Hostile Zones.

Hand in hand with this company, John William Casara Luna began working in Mexico. There is evidence that he arrived in our country at the beginning of 2015, when he began to provide training courses to municipal police officers of Zacatecas.

However, John Casara's training did not stop there. Later, he joined the State Police of Zacatecas, through his social networks he disseminates photographs in which he poses with a long weapon, black uniforms similar to those worn by police forces in that entity, and even with a helicopter of the Zacatecano Government.

The defense of John Casara

After several years of operating in Mexico, John Willian Casara Luna today faces an accusation for the kidnapping and murder of Iván Espino Colunga, an 18-year-old boy whose handcuffed body was found last Wednesday, June 6, on a dirt road, a few hours after he was taken from his home, located in the municipality of General Pánfilo Natera, by alleged state police of Zacatecas.

The accusation was made directly by Inés Colunga Montes, mother of the minor who was found with signs of torture, sheltered and with gunshot wounds. The young man's body was located by peasants near the Hacienda de Ojocaliente community that is part of the neighborhood of the same name.

Inés Colunga does not hesitate to point directly to John Casara, whom she identifies as "El Colombiano" and even provides the patrol number in which he allegedly traveled, unit 571 of the State Police of Zacatecas. This is her narration.

Through a Twitter account, Casara Luna contacted Aristegui Noticias and denied the accusations, arguing that Iván Espino Colunga was kidnapped by an armed criminal cell while he was in a neighborhood hospital in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Zacatecas, a fact that he can allegedly accredit with videos.

@aristeguicnn good morning Mrs. Carmen, my name is John William Casara. I am the person of Colombian nationality who is accused of a death. I would like to talk to you. There are videos that show that it was not me and I would like you to give me the presumption of innocence

John Luna (@johncasara) June 9, 2018

John Casara's story does not explain how the young Ivan Espino Colunga went to a hospital after he was taken out of his house by state police from Zacatecas who were traveling aboard three units, including patrol 571 in which Casara Luna himself allegedly moved.

Inés Colunga affirms that she saw the "Colombian Commander" the day her son was kidnapped, so she insists on his accusation and denies that it could be another person who participated in the events she has already told.

Casara agrees with Inés Colunga in the part of the story in which both indicate that they already knew each other, this because on March 25, 2018, elements of the State Police of Zacatecas arrested another son of the family, Juan Abraham Espino Colunga, in the same home for allegedly carrying drugs and weapons.

Although John Casara displayed on Twitter a letter made available from Juan Abraham Espino, the former employee of the European Security Academy acknowledges that he was released days later by a control judge, but omits to explain the reasons why the detention was declared illegal or if the evidence was insufficient to link him to trial.

Aristegui Noticias