María del Rosario Matías Esquivel, former mayor of Santo Tomás, State of Mexico, was arrested on the night of Thursday, January 23, after being linked to organized crime and being wanted as part of 'Operation Swarm.' According to the Attorney General's Office of the State of Mexico, María del Rosario Esquivel, who had been the mayor of Santo Tomás de los Plátanos since 2022, was apprehended in Metepec, with the help of elements from the Army and the Security Secretariat of the entity. The Attorney General's Office stated that her capture was due to her ties to the corruption network, which has been dismantled by the authorities since November of last year, and indicated that she would be taken to a prison in the coming hours and placed at the disposal of judicial authorities to define her legal situation.
Authorities of the State of Mexico indicate that María del Rosario Esquivel is accused of extortion. At the moment, it is unknown what her rank was within the corruption network that was dismantled through 'Operation Swarm'; however, she is one of the most well-known political figures for having been a mayor.
María del Rosario Matías Esquivel was the mayor of Santo Tomás de los Plátanos, in the State of Mexico. Information suggests that she left her position last year and was succeeded by her husband, Pedro Luis Hernández, who fled after taking office as mayor because the police were close to arresting him. Both were part of the corruption network of State of Mexico officials, and as of Thursday, Pedro Luis Hernández remains at large.
The Attorney General's Office of the State of Mexico reported that, at the time of María del Rosario Matías Esquivel's arrest, her daughter was found, who was supposedly missing and had been kidnapped, according to statements from her father, Mayor Pedro Luis Hernández. Last December, after reappearing with a video and claiming he would prove his innocence, Pedro Luis Hernández claimed that on Wednesday, December 18, agents from the Attorney General's Office took his daughter, Danna Paola Hernández Matías, kidnapped. During the video, the man requested that the minor be located, as she is underage and her parents did not know her whereabouts; however, she was found on Thursday with her mother in Metepec.
The legal status of the public officials' daughter is unknown; however, with this information, the Attorney General's Office refuted the statements of the fugitive mayor. The whereabouts of Pedro Luis Hernández remains unknown; however, during his appearance last December, he claimed he is being pursued for political reasons, and that there is abuse of power against him, thus he will seek to prove his innocence, despite being accused of corruption as part of 'Operation Swarm.'
