Mexican Mayor Released In Case of 43 Kidnapped Students

AP Photo/Marco Ugarte
AP Photo/Marco Ugarte

A Mexican federal judge from the border city of Matamoros freed the mayor of the town of Cocula, Guerrero, who had been accused of working for a drug cartel in connection with the case of the 43 butchered education students from Ayotzinapa.

Cesar Miguel Penaloza, the mayor of Cocula Guerrero had been accused by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office of working for the drug cartel Guerreros Unidos, the same cartel blamed for the death of the 43 students.

As Breitbart Texas previously reported, in late September, Mexican police officers from the Mexican cities of Iguala and Cocula kidnapped 43 education students only to turn them over to a drug cartel that killed them and set their bodies on fire.

The mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca and his wife remain behind bars for their alleged role as the masterminds of the kidnapping while multiple police officers from the town of Cocula as well as the police force of Iguala all remain jailed for their alleged role.

Penaloza had been arrested because based on the testimony of come cartel members he also worked for the Guerreros Unidos.  However the evidence presented by Mexican prosecutors was not able to get an indictment against him and a judge in the Mexican border city of Matamoros ordered his release, Mexico’s Excelsior reported.

Penaloza’s release is the latest in a series of questionable actions by the Mexican court system which is perceived by the public in Mexico to be extremely corrupt. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, Raul Salinas, the brother of a former Mexican president was acquitted of all charges related to the alleged ransacking of a presidential account and for making money through illicit means.

Other questionable actions include the release this summer of Rogelio “El Kelin or Z2” Gonzalez Pizana, one of the founding members of the Zetas, who is now believed to be in an struggle to regain control of his organization, as well as the August 2013 release of Rafael Caro Quintero, a legendary capo wanted in the U.S. for the murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.

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