Chilpancingo Public Security Secretary Arrested for Mayor's Decapitation in Guerrero

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

On October 1, 2024, the capital city of Guerrero inaugurated a new Mayor, Alejandro Arcos Catalán. 6 days later, his decapitated head was found on the roof of a pickup truck, his body found stuffed inside of the truck. 

It was a grim reminder of the violence that had occurred leading up to the June elections that saw nearly 40 political candidates assassinated throughout the country. Authorities announced the recent arrest of a retired military Captain who became a special prosecutor, and recently in charge of security for Chilpancingo for his involvement in the murder.

This arrest was also a reminder of the collusion and corruption between cartels, local gangs, politicians and law enforcement in the region that has seen battles between gangs allied with larger cartels including the Los Ardillos and Los Tlacos.

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW

Slain Chilpancingo Mayor Alejandro Arcos.

German Reyes Reyes, appointed Security Director by Arcos.

Officials in Guerrero confirmed that Germán Reyes Reyes was arrested on charges of homicide for the killing of Alejandro Arcos just a week after he took office as Mayor of the state capital, Chilpancingo.

Officials had previously blamed the killing on a local drug and extortion gang Los Ardillos. Reyes was formerly employed as special prosecutor for Guerrero state, a high-level position with political and judicial influence.

Who is German Reyes Reyes?

According to the Defensa (formerly SEDENA), "Germán Reyes worked in this department from September 1, 1996 to September 16, 2017, when he voluntarily left active service."

Reyes was head of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Serious Crimes in Guerrero, when the head of the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) was Lieutenant Colonel Sandra Luz Valdovinos in 2023. 

He was currently in charge of the Office of the Secretary of Public Security in the Chilpancingo City Council, now chaired by Gustavo Alarcón Herrera, and was part of the 2020-2027 Council of Honor, Justice and Citizen Participation of the city council.

He was Special Prosecutor for the San Miguel Totolapan case in 2022, for the murder of 20 people, including Mayor Conrado Mendoza Almeda.

Reyes Reyes was appointed as the head of the municipal Public Security Secretariat by Alejandro Arcos Catalán himself. After the assassination on September 28 of Army Captain Ulises Hernández Martínez, the current Public Security Secretariat at the time.

The implication was that Reyes, who was also a former military officer and according to his official resume, retired with rank of Captain in the military justice system, had somehow worked in collusion with the unnamed gang.

If Reyes is convicted, it would also be a stinging rebuke for a policy adopted by cities across Mexico of hiring retired military officers for top local police jobs, on the assumption that they are less prone to corruption.

It was also revealing that state detectives had to rely on federal forces soldiers and the National Guard to make the arrest, suggesting they may not have trusted state and local police who would normally carry out such tasks.

Mayor's Decapitation

Before his killing and decapitation, the mayor of Chilpancingo, Alejandro Arcos, met with members of the criminal group Los Ardillos, revealed sources from the federal government, who did not specify the date of the meeting.

An alleged difference between the Mayor of the opposition alliance and the criminals, led by the brothers Celso and Iván Ortega Jiménez, points to the motive for his execution. 

Arcos' predecessor, former Mayor Norma Otilia Hernández, was expelled from Morena for having also held meetings with Los Ardillo leaders.

At noon on Sunday, October 6, hours before his death, Arcos went to the Plan de Ayala neighborhood to assess the damage caused by Hurricane John. Later he was expected in the community of Tepechicotlán, but he did not arrive.

His remains were found in the Villa del Roble neighborhood, his body inside a pickup truck and his head on the roof of the vehicle.

Arcos, 43, was the only politician who was allowed to campaign in the communities of Valle del Ocotito and part of the Sierra of this municipality, where the Los Ardillos group operates, during the last electoral campaign.

The Morena-PT contenders, Jorge Salgado Parra, and the Citizen Movement, Víctor Toledo, were unable to set foot on these grounds.

Alejandro Moreno, the national leader of the PRI said “we will not allow his death to go unpunished.” A few days before Arcos’ death, the newly installed Secretary of the city council had also been murdered.

“They had been in office less than a week,” Moreno wrote on his social media accounts. “They were young and honest public servants who were seeking progress for their community.”

Is Reyes Just a Scapegoat?

During a break in his November 13 hearing, Reyes called out to the media stating he had nothing to do with the kidnapping and murder of the Mayor. "This is a political matter," Reyes told the media, after saying in the hearing that he was a scapegoat and that he had nothing against Alejandro Arcos, who nominated him as Secretary of Security.

Finally, he said that he did not initially know the motives or the crime he was arrested for.

His arrest was based on witness statements, including that of a merchant who was later murdered. One of the key testimonies came from Domitilo Candia Pila, a businessman who was kidnapped and tortured on a ranch in Quechultenango by alleged members of the Petaquillas community police.\

The Quechultengo ranch was where the mayor of Chilpancingo was allegedly murdered.

In his complaint to the Prosecutor's Office, Candia stated that he had heard a conversation between his captors, in which Germán Reyes was identified as the mastermind behind the councilman's murder, along with names of people nicknamed 'El Jimi', 'El Junior' and Marco Antonio Osorio Castrejón.

Candia was found dead at his home on November 6, just days after having gone to the Prosecutor's Office to give his testimony.

The judge also considered an anonymous statement from an alleged municipal agent who, via email, also pointed to Reyes Reyes as responsible for the crime. Both testimonies were evaluated as "coincident" elements in the investigation.

The Prosecutor's Office version indicates that Germán Reyes is a member of Los Ardillos and kidnapped Alejandro Arcos from the ranch in Quechultenango. The office also maintains that Alejandro Arcos was murdered after refusing to include in his cabinet individuals linked to the criminal group 'Los Ardillos' that operates in Quechultenango and other areas of Guerrero.

Germán Reyes asked the judge for a different precautionary measure, considering that his life is in danger in prison because he was a prosecutor for Serious Crimes, but that his request was denied.

Family members seen at the wake of the killed merchant.

Market Vendor Massacre

Mexico’s newly named top federal security official, Omar García Harfuch, said earlier this month that Arcos, the Mayor whose body was found in a pickup truck, with his severed head placed on the roof of the vehicle, was apparently killed by the same gang responsible for killing 11 market vendors, including four boys.

The vendors, members of an extended family, were abducted in late October as they traveled to sell their wares. Their bodies were found dumped in the bed of a pickup truck on an avenue in Chilpancingo. While neither Harfuch nor state prosecutors would name the gang, a local human rights activist said Los Ardillos were responsible for killing the market vendors.

The activist, who did not want to be quoted for fear of reprisals, said Los Ardillos gang controlled large parts of the state and had state congressmen and other officials working for them.

Chilpancingo Violence

Los Ardillos have been locked in a years-long battle for control of Chilpancingo with a rival gang, Los Tlacos. Chilpancingo, a city of about 300,000, is so completely dominated by gangs that in 2023, one of them staged a demonstration of hundreds of people, hijacked a government armored car, blocked a major highway and took police hostage to win the release of arrested suspects.

On September 27, the former director of the Special Forces Unit (UFE) of the state Police, Ulises Hernández, was shot dead along with his partner, while traveling in a car.

On October 3, the City Secretary, Francisco Gonzalo Tapia, was also murdered two blocks from the Municipal Palace of Chilpancingo. He was to become Municipal Secretary of Public Security during Alejandro Arcos' administration.

Violence in Guerrero reached such unprecedented levels that earlier this year, Roman Catholic bishops announced they had helped arrange a truce in another part of the state between two warring drug cartels.

At the time, former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he approved of such talks. “Priests and pastors and members of all the churches have participated, helped in pacifying the country. I think it is very good,” said López Obrador, who left office Sept. 30.

Sources Dallas News, AP News, Infobae, Nacion321, Expreso, El Financiero