A Mexican judge sentenced 18 members of Los Zetas cartel to various prison terms for their roles in a 2010 massacre that left at least 193 victims dead and their bodies buried in 47 mass graves.
This week, the Second Federal District Judge in Ciudad Victoria handed down sentences to the 18 cartel members. The sentences ranged from 58 years to 14 years in prison for various crimes including kidnapping, engaging in organized criminal activity, and illegal possession of firearms. The members of the cell took various roles in the kidnapping, murder, and disposal of migrants and other victims of the criminal organization. This cell was under the orders of currently jailed leaders — regional boss Salvador Alfonso “La Ardilla or Squirrel” Martínez Escobedo, regional boss, Omar Martin “Kilo” Estrada Luna, and plaza boss Ricardo “El Coyote” Palomo.
The most famous killing carried out by the criminal organization took place on August 22-23, 2010, when the cartel members killed 72 migrants on a ranch near San Fernando. The cartel left the bodies piled up in a warehouse.
The case against the cartel members stems from multiple killings starting in the summer of 2010 when Los Zetas established a series of clandestine checkpoints along highways in the state. The cartel members stopped passenger buses and vehicles. The members of the cell would also keep tabs on the local bus station in the city of San Fernando where they would kidnap migrants. The gunmen took the migrants to a location known as the “Vulcanizadora” in the La Joya neighborhood. In that spot, the cartel members would torture and kill migrants who refused to join their ranks or anyone they suspected of being part of their rivals, the Gulf Cartel.
The unnamed judge handed down the biggest sentence of 58 years to the leader of the cell Juan Pablo Cabrera Escalante, known as Comandante Cacharpa. A woman known as La Guera Jovanna Susano Cruz received a sentence of 57 years. The following group received a sentence of 43 years: Julio César “Chimuelo or Sami” Lugo Chaca, Sergio “Diablo” Córdova Martinez, José Mauricio Oñate Rodríguez, Samuel Moreno Saavedra, Rolando Coronado Uñate, Claudio López López,Mauricio Rodríguez Cervantes, and Santitos ”Santos or Chacho” Reyes Villa Olvera. Several other members received shorter sentences – the shortest being 14 years.
After the August 23 massacre in San Fernando became known, authorities began searching several rural areas and found 47 mass graves with 193 bodies. Many more clandestine gravesites are believed to exist that have yet to be found. Los Zetas carried out numerous similar but lesser-known massacres in other places like Nuevo Laredo and the state of Coahuila.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas.
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