The Attorney General's Office of Michoacán (FGE) reported that it has obtained formal charges against Rigoberto “N”, alias “El Plátano”, the alleged perpetrator of the disappearance of a Venezuelan citizen that occurred on September 24, and who is also linked to the murder of lime grower leader Bernardo Bravo on October 19.
In a statement, the agency detailed that the events took place at a home in the Cenobio Moreno locality, where the accused, along with another person, presumably broke into a residence, “where they threatened a person with a reserved identity with a firearm and, after depriving them of their liberty, forced them to board a pickup truck, in which they left the site, and their whereabouts are currently unknown.”
The Prosecutor's Office indicated that the investigation led to the request for an arrest warrant from a control judge, which has already been executed.
During the hearing, it was decided to formally charge Rigoberto “N”, he was imposed a preventive prison order, and a three-month period was set for the complementary investigation.
The FGE stated that “there will be no impunity for those who participate in these crimes.”
Rigoberto “N”, also known as “El Pantano II”, is the brother of Ignacio, alias “El Pantano”, and is also being investigated for his possible involvement in the murder of Bernardo Bravo, the lime grower leader from Apatzingán.
Carlos Torres Piña, Michoacán's prosecutor, stated in Aristegui en Vivo that the lime grower businessman died after being the victim of an attack in the Cenobio Moreno community.
“It seems they staged it as if he were driving. There were no belongings, he didn't have his cell phone or his wallet. The Prosecutor's Office is investigating if there were omissions or irregularities in the security protocol assigned to Bravo, who had had escorts for over a year.”
Torres Piña also indicated that, according to surveillance records, Bravo traveled from Morelia to Apatzingán on the day of the attack, changing vehicles in the city's lime market before heading to Cenobio Moreno, where he was allegedly summoned by members of a criminal group.
“The one who summoned him could have been some criminal leader in the Cenobio area,” he specified.
The prosecutor highlighted that the investigations into Bravo's murder also seek to clarify if there were links to extortion in the area.
“Normally in this rainy season the price of limes goes down, but if you add to that that extortion continues, it is indeed worrisome for lime growers,” he noted.
“There was no weapon, no shell near him,” he explained.
