Warrant Issued for Former Federal Police Anti-Drug Chief Ramón Eduardo Pequeño on Torture Charges

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Ramon Eduardo Pequeno is accused of being responsible for ordering the torture of members of the Los Zodiacs kidnapping gang alongside Luis Cardenas Palomino and others.

A federal judge ordered the apprehension of the former head of the Federal Police Anti-Drug Division, Ramón Eduardo Pequeño, for his probable responsibility in the crime of torture to the detriment of four alleged kidnappers accused of being part of the Los Zodiacos gang.

The victims' lawyer Héctor Pérez Rivera told Milenio that Eduardo Pequeño is accused of being one of the material authors of the torture of Mario Vallarta Cisneros and Sergio Cortez Vallarta, brother and nephew, respectively, of Israel Vallarta, former sentimental partner of convicted French kidnapper Florence Cassez.

The arrest warrant pointed out, it was released "within the same criminal case 10/2020 by the Twelfth District Court of Federal Criminal Proceedings" in Mexico City, last year. Luis Cárdenas Palomino, a former Federal Police Chief under Genaro Garcia Luna was recently arrested for his involvement in the torture of the kidnapping group, as reported by Borderland Beat.

What degree of participation did Eduardo Pequeño have? 

“Material author, like all the other participants. They are all material authors.”

Are Luis Cárdenas Palomino and Ramón Eduardo Pequeño the two highest-ranking former officials involved?"

"Yes, they are the only high-ranking characters involved in the criminal case."

At a recent hearing, former director of the Federal Security Regional Police, Luis Cardenas, reserved his right to testify after being accused by the Fiscalía General of the Republic (FGR) as probable responsible for the crime of torture.

The former federal command requested the duplication of the constitutional term, from 72 to 144 hours, so that his legal situation could be defined, after appearing for almost four hours. FGR probably assumed that Cardenas Palomino ordered agents of the Federal Police the torture of four people, to force them to accept that they were part of the Los Zodiacos gang of kidnappers.

The brothers Eduardo and Ricardo Estrada Granados are the other alleged kidnappers believed to have been tortured.

The FGR accused that Cárdenas Palomino ordered the torture of four people in 2012: Eduardo Estrada Granados, Ricardo Estrada Granados, Sergio Cortez Vallarta, and Mario Vallarta Cisneros. The last one is the brother of Israel Vallarta, former boyfriend of French national and convicted kidnapper Florence Cassez.

Cassez was arrested in Mexico in 2005 and sentenced to 60 years for kidnapping. Her boyfriend was part of a kidnapping ring known as Los Zodiacos and she was convicted for assisting him. After 7 years of tensions between Mexican and French authorities, she was released for violations in due process since the police staged the filming of her arrest and did not contact consular authorities promptly.

Throughout her imprisonment and after she was released, Cassez was firm on her innocence. But some of the kidnapping victims identified her as one of the abductors and said she was involved in the gang. In 2013, Cassez was allowed to return to France, where she now lives.

Pequeño García was the Chief of Intelligence at the Federal Police, and Cárdenas Palomino, Former Chief of the Regional Security Division. Both belonged to García Luna’s closest circle

Both Cárdenas Palomino and Ramón Eduardo Pequeño are singled out in the United States for allegedly protecting and receiving bribes from the Sinaloa cartel. Currently, both are under indictments in New York. The former chief of both commanders, the former Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna, remains awaiting trial in the United States. 

According to the ProPublica report, Pequeño García, Cárdenas Palomino, and García Luna had a high level of cooperation with the Sinaloa cartel. The Mexican officials agreed not to interfere with the cartel’s operation, most of which was based in the U.S.

Moreover, they provided the cartel leaders with information about legal operations against them and focused on arrests involving other cartels. In addition, they put the most corrupt officials to monitor security agencies in the areas where the Sinaloa cartel operated. 

The accusations are part of an investigation on corruption at the Mexican government that began after Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán was declared guilty of 10 crimes related to drug trafficking and for which he was sentenced to life in prison.

In 2020, Pequeno had his bank accounts frozen in relation to Garcia Luna trafficking allegations, as reported by Borderland Beat.

Regarding Ramón Pequeño, a report mentioned that “he supervised the anti-drugs units that were specially examined by the U.S. Drugs Control Administration and that were related to two massacres in Mexico that left tens, and possibly hundreds of dead and missing people.”

Pequeño García, who was the chief of intelligence at the Federal Police, and Cárdenas Palomino, former chief of the Regional Security Division of the same institution, and both of whom belonged to García Luna’s closest circle, has been previously praised by U.S. authorities on their fight against Mexican drug cartels.

Although the accusations do not directly link Pequeño and Cárdenas Palomino to those cases, they mention leakage of information and suggest both of them were working with drug cartels.

Sources: Milenio; El Universal; Borderland Beat archives