One month after the murder of former Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo Rodríguez, the number of people linked to the process and charged has risen to nineteen, with one more of those involved still at large. Investigations point to the murder, which occurred on November 1st, having been ordered by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, although the motive is still unknown. On Sunday, a control judge formally charged the person identified as Jaciel Antonio “N”, alias “El Pelón”, who is accused of recruiting the material killer of the former mayor, Víctor Manuel “N”, at a drug rehabilitation center, according to the Michoacán State Attorney General's Office (FGE). Jaciel Antonio “N”, alias “El Pelón”, was presented before a control judge, and the state Attorney General's Office presented evidence linking him to the alleged crimes of extortion and bribery, committed in Uruapan against the family of the material killer of Carlos Manzo and another young man named Fernando Josué, who was also involved on the night of November 1st. The investigations presented by the Attorney General's Office, in coordination with federal authorities, revealed that on October 27th, Fernando Josué's mother received an extortion call from Jaciel Antonio “N”, who demanded a sum of money, allegedly for Fernando Josué and his friend Víctor Manuel, the young man who shot Carlos Manzo. On the same day, Jaciel Antonio went to the victims' home to collect the payment from the threats and extortion, and once there, he demanded that the woman contact Víctor Manuel's family to also pay a similar amount. As a result of these criminal actions, on November 23rd, FGE agents, with the support of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), arrested “El Pelón”, who at the time of his arrest was carrying drugs and allegedly attempted to bribe the agents by offering them 10 thousand dollars to let him go. Jaciel Antonio, alias “El Pelón”, was finally formally charged with the crimes of extortion and bribery. As a precautionary measure, he was formally ordered to be held in preventive detention, and a four-month deadline was set for the completion of the complementary investigation.
