El Guacho, Former Leader of Los Zetas in Coahuila, Given 31 Years in Prison

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Pedro Toga accused a former official of the then PGR, as well as other military officials of aiding the criminal group.

The Attorney General's Office (FGR) informed that it obtained a conviction against Pedro Toga Lara, alias El Guacho, former head of the Los Zetas Cartel in Saltillo, Coahulia, who is accused of accusing a former official of the then Attorney General's Office (PGR) of providing support to the criminal organization.

In a statement, the Attorney General's Office explained that Pedro "T" was found responsible for the crimes of organized crime to commit crimes against health, operations with resources of illicit origin and carrying a firearm for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime (FEMDO), in coordination with the Special Prosecutor's Office for Regional Control (FECOR) in its Veracruz delegation, obtained the conviction against El Guacho.

"This person was arrested in 2011, and was attributed to be part of a criminal organization dedicated to committing crimes against health, where Pedro "T", had Coahuila as the main area of operation," said the Attorney General's Office.

The agency, headed by Alejandro Gertz Manero, specified that this member of Los Zetas had already been sentenced in 2018, however, a reinstatement of the procedure was ordered, which ended with the 31-year prison sentence.

In 2018, Pedro Toga had been sentenced to 42 years in prison along with his brother Alberto, alias Eli, and Eledith Castillo Benítez, who were sentenced to 30 years and 26 years and nine months in prison, respectively.

These individuals were arrested by members of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) in March 2011 in Saltillo.

According to the newspaper Milenio, El Guacho declared in 2012 that the brother of the former Coahuila prosecutor, Jesus Torres Charles, was linked to the criminal organization.

Jesus Torres Charles, former Coahuila prosecutor. 

This is Humberto Torres Charles, alias Glenda, who allegedly received 300,000 pesos per month for collaborating with Los Zetas.

According to Milenio, the brother of the former Coahuila prosecutor had ties with retired Mexican Army general Manuel de Jesús Cícero Salazar, who served as director of the Coahuila Operational Police during the administration of Humberto Moreira.

The then PGR, now FGR, began to prosecute Humberto Torres and other officials after El Guacho's declarations for the crimes of organized crime for the purpose of committing crimes against health.

The investigations carried out by the agent of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office identified former military officer Manuel Jesús Cícero Salazar; the sub-delegate of the PGR of Saltillo, Claudia González López; as well as former police commanders Sergio Tobías Salas, alias El Tobogán, and Julio César Ruiz Esquivel, aka El Chicho, of supporting Los Zetas, as probably responsible for the aforementioned crimes.

El Guacho incriminated military officials with Los Zetas.

Pedro Toga Lara's statements also had an impact on the military, as he declared that 16 members of the 69th Infantry Battalion in Saltillo, Coahuila, were part of an information network that served Los Zetas.

El Guacho, who became a protected witness, detailed that these soldiers provided information to the criminal group about operations by the authorities, in addition to pointing out that they were on the payroll of the Zetas, who by that time had already displaced the Gulf Cartel in Coahuila and set off alerts from the authorities for their hegemony in the north of the country.

At least nine members of the Sedena military were sentenced to 26 years in military prison in May 2017, after some of them appealed.

Infobae