The independent local deputy of Michoacán, Carlos Alejandro Bautista Tafolla, denounced that he is being held responsible for the discovery of human remains on a family plot in Uruapan, where this week collectives of searching mothers located four bodies after months of unanswered requests.
The legislator stated that it was he himself who first reported the initial clue, a skull discovered by dogs, about four months ago, and accused the state and federal governments of disinformation, abandoning the area in the face of organized crime, and hindering the search work.
In a video posted on his social networks, Bautista pointed out that the property, located on the road between Toreo del Alto and Tiamba, had been uninhabited by his family for more than eight years due to insecurity. He explained that they requested the installation of a security post on several occasions, but “the government never paid attention to us.”
Subsequently, they leased the space to the Michoacán University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo for environmental research projects due to the extensive biodiversity of the plot.
The legislator affirmed that some publications have suggested that he was hiding bodies in that area, which he described as an unfounded accusation. “It seems they want to blame me, as if I were hiding bodies on my land.”
He added that his intention was always to report and accompany the search process, so he contacted the searching mothers from the initial discovery. According to the deputy, a close friend of the murdered mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manzo, the searching mothers repeatedly requested authorization and support to enter the plot, but the search was canceled twice for security reasons.
It was not until last Wednesday that they were finally able to enter the site, where they located four bodies with at least a year of antiquity, according to his testimony. The deputy showed the document signed by him in which he formally authorized the entry of the Search Commission for Persons, the Collective A Light in the Heart, Municipal Police, Civil Guard, National Guard, and other authorities.
“I am here with them,” he said, emphasizing that they sought to avoid new cancellations.
One of the members of the collective Mothers with a Light in the Heart, María Eugenia Ruiz Favela, who is searching for her son Gustavo Segura Ruiz, missing since July 8, 2018, present in the video, thanked the legislator's support. “She has supported us a lot,” she said and noted that the search had been delayed and that they faced security problems because “they took away the National Guard, they are not giving us security.”
In addition, she detailed that they managed to locate “four positives” and reproached the authorities for taking too long to allow the search.
Call not to divert attention from the murder of Carlos Manzo Bautista also affirmed that the dissemination of false information could be used as a “smoke screen” to divert attention from the murder of the mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manzo, with whom he maintained a close friendship. “Let us not lose focus on Carlos Manzo's justice, we have to find the intellectual author,” he said.
The legislator asked for support to spread the cases of missing persons and the work of the collectives because, he emphasized, these groups “are only asking for respect for the people that the State has made disappear.”
In a previous post on his social networks, Bautista assured that there could be more remains in the area. “They have been going to search and have already found four bodies, apparently there are many more.”
In view of this, he asked the three levels of government to open support for the collectives, warning that they operate without resources, while political parties “have thousands and millions.”
