The ongoing trial of a mid-level Zeta boss has revealed that federal prosecutors in Texas have evidence and testimony that convinced them the government of border state of Coahuila has been complicit with the activities of the Los Zetas drug cartel.
The allegations brought up by prosecutors are listed in a court filing in the case against Marciano “El Chano” Millan Vasquez, an accused mid-level Zeta boss in Coahuila. As part of his defense in the ongoing trial in San Antonio, Millan had tried to use a Mexican court document called an “amparo” or trial of acquittal. Prosecutors with the U.S. District Attorney’s Office claim that the document is not to be trusted.
“The document is generated by an entity, the State of Coahuila, who is believed to have been complicit with the Zeta Drug Cartel in the trafficking of narcotics,” the document revealed. “Witnesses have testified in related proceedings that all of the state law enforcement in Coahuila are controlled by the cartel.
The claims about Coahuila’s governor being in bed with Los Zetas resurfaced this week during the trial; where according to witness testimony Los Zetas cartel had paid $4 million to then Governor Humberto Moreira in exchange for protection, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
One of the Zeta money men, Rodrigo Humberto Uribe Tapia, testified that he paid bribes on behalf of the cartel to Moreira, the Texas newspaper reported. The transaction was done through Moreira’s aide Vicente Chaires Yanez and other top officials.
In exchange for the bribes, the Zetas were able to operate in Coahuila with complete impunity.
The allegations against Millan point to him having been responsible for multiple kidnappings and gruesome executions in an effort to instill fear of the cartel
Breitbart Texas spent three months investigating the allegations that Los Zetas cartel had kidnapped, murdered and incinerated the bodies of more than 300 victims from a northern rural community in Coahuila. About half of the victims were incinerated in 55-gallon drums inside the state prison in the border city of Piedras Negras. The prison was under the complete control of the Los Zetas cartel with the organization even using the prison as a base of sorts.
The exposure, along with pressure from various independent Mexican outlets, shamed the Coahuila government into investigating the massacre. Since then, Coahuila authorities have charged a handful of Zeta members. Authorities have not gone after prison officials or other government employees that aided the drug cartel.
Coahuila’s former Governor Humberto Moreira has also been publicly linked to the Los Zetas cartel. Earlier this year, Spanish authorities arrested Moreira on money laundering charges, Breitbart Texas previously reported. In the allegations brought up by Spanish court officials, Moreira is singled out as a subordinate of the Los Zetas cartel. Most of the information against Moreira came from case files in Texas where federal agents document the various activities of the cartels. The Mexican government applied political pressure in Spain and the case against Moreira has since been dismissed.
Chano Trial of Acquittal motion
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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