Mexico Arrests Cartel-Connected Judge Blacklisted by U.S. Treasury

Mexican federal agents arrested a judge who has been accused of taking hefty bribes from one of the most violent drug cartels in exchange for protection. The U.S. Department of the Treasury outed that Mexican judge when they froze his assets in the U.S. and forbade any U.S. citizen or entity from doing business with him.

On Friday afternoon, agents with Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) arrested Federal Magistrate Isidro Avelar Gutierrez in Guadalajara Jalisco and moved him to Mexico City, a statement from Mexico’s Federal Judicature Council (CJF) revealed. The arrest follows a formal complaint filed on April 24 by the CJF before the Attorney General’s Office against Avelar Gutierrez on allegations of irregularities in his income and allegations of bribery, the statement revealed.

As Breitbart Texas reported on May 17, the U.S. Department of Treasury added Avelar Gutierrez to their blacklist of individuals under the Kingpin Designation Act. The judge is accused of giving favorable rulings to members of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) in exchange hefty bribes. In that enforcement measure, federal officials also outed former Nayarit Governor Roberto Sandoval Castaneda on allegations of human rights violations for his role in protecting the CJNG.

Led by Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the CJNG has become one of the dominant cartels in Mexico due to their use of extreme violence and improvised explosive devices. Currently, CJNG is linked to raging cartel violence in places in Mexico that had been largely spared of it.

Currently, two U.S. Congressmen are calling for the most violent drug cartels in Mexico, including CJNG to be designated as foreign terrorist organizations.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.