The Nayarit Truth Commission has requested the extradition from former state prosecutor Edgar Veytia, convicted of drug trafficking in the United States, after he allegedly made threats from abroad against a Mexican citizen. This was reported by Rodrigo González Barrios, a spokesperson for the organization, in an open letter addressed to President Claudia Sheinbaum, Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, and Governor of Nayarit Miguel Ángel Navarro. In the document, González Barrios stated that “Mexican justice must reach Edgar Veytia,” whom he described as a “confessed criminal” following his admissions in the United States, where he acknowledged murders, torture, and other crimes. He noted that based on a recent complaint, an investigation file has been opened at the Attorney General's Office (FGR) regarding the call in which he allegedly intimidated a citizen. According to the letter, the phone number was used again 24 hours later, so communication tracking will be requested to rule out more victims. The spokesperson stated that during the government of Roberto Sandoval Castañeda (2011-2017), the people of Nayarit “suffered a series of very serious crimes” from the state apparatus, including disappearances, tortures, murders, kidnappings, and extortions. He claimed that some of these behaviors have already been judicially accredited. He recalled that in the context of the Sandoval administration and Veytia's prosecutor's office, the former president of the Nayarit Supreme Court of Justice, Pedro Antonio Enríquez, as well as other judges, were sentenced for irregular mortgage processes to the detriment of Infonavit beneficiaries. He also emphasized that the former local deputy Carlos Alberto Saldate is convicted of aggravated kidnapping in complicity with Veytia, accumulating over 111 years in prison. Regarding former Governor Sandoval Castañeda, he identified him as “the leader of the macro-criminal network we call the ‘Cartel of the People’.” According to the letter, the former governor faces a federal process for operations with illicitly sourced funds, as well as investigations for forced disappearance. González Barrios also mentioned that in 2020, 16 citizens testified before the FGR, explaining the modus operandi of the Nayarit Police, which was allegedly used to kidnap people, torture them, or strip them of their assets, and those who refused to hand over goods were sent to the “cage of the crazies” in the Tepic prison or disappeared. The representative of the Truth Commission indicated that victims, witnesses, and collaborators have received protection measures from state and federal authorities. However, he considered an additional step necessary, and therefore “respectfully, the extradition of Edgar Veytia must be requested so that he stops threatening us, that's all.” The letter was signed by the head of the Truth Commission's Promoter, Rodrigo González Barrios, in Tepic on October 31, and disseminated with the message “Justice, not revenge.” The pending cases in Nayarit. In April 2024, in an interview for Aristegui en Vivo, the prosecutor of Nayarit, Petronilo Díaz Ponce Medrano, pointed out that there were a total of 11 arrest warrants against Edgar Veytia for various crimes and criminal causes, including torture, abuse of authority, qualified theft, document forgery, extortion, influence trafficking, threats. As well as criminal association, crimes committed by public servants, qualified injuries, and prisoner evasion. He also noted that one of the arrest warrants, specifically the one related to threats and extortion, has already expired, which means there are 10 pending arrest warrants to execute. Veytia is a confessed criminal. On February 7, 2023, in a Brooklyn court, former prosecutor Edgar Veytia testified against former Mexican Secretary of Security Genaro García Luna, and while being questioned by prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy, he admitted to having tortured and murdered people in Nayarit. On that day, Veytia, under oath, said that he had been involved in at least 10 murders, 30 or 40 cases of torture, kidnappings, and disappearance of evidence, among other crimes. After his collaboration with U.S. authorities, the sentence imposed on him in 2019 of 20 years in prison and five more under supervision was reduced, and since February 2025, he left FCI Ashland, a low-security federal prison located in Ashland, Kentucky. He apparently remains in New Jersey, serving his sentence under supervision, although the charges against him for alleged crimes in Nayarit remain active, as do new accusations for alleged threats.
