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The case of Lucero Guadalupe Sánchez López, a local congresswoman of the National Action Party (PAN) presumably linked to the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, reopened the debate on the immunity given to legislators that makes it more difficult to open a criminal case against officials accused of a felony.
The bill to change this law has remained in the freezer in the Senate for three years.
An investigation conducted by EL UNIVERSAL revealed that in the last three legislatures at least 43 federal deputies and senators have faced accusations of alleged links to organized crime, but only one was stripped of this legal protection (fuero): Julio César Godoy Toscano, a member of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD ) who remains at large.
Víctor Alarcón Olguín, who has a masters degree in Government from the University of Notre Dame, says that even though this initiative is valuable, it is not enough, because there are other elements that inhibit complaints and make social organizations be intimidated by organized crime.
Senator Pilar Ortega (PAN), Secretary of the Second Committee for Legislative Studies of the Senate, said that resuming the discussion is essential.
She says that the constitutional immunity should only protect the views of parliamentarians, not prevent Mexican justice from punishing them for any crimes in which they may incurr.
The accusations against the 43 federal lawmakers have come from national and U.S. police forces, partisan organizations, public figures, national or foreign press, protected witnesses, offenders themselves or are result of meetings of congressmen with criminals that have become public.
Some representatives that have been accused of having links with criminal organizations are:
La Familia Michoacana or Knights Templar: Federico Quinto (PRI), Salomón Fernando Rosales (PRI), Rodimiro Estrada Barrera (PRI) and Humberto Benítez Treviño (PRI); Iris Vianey Mendoza (PRD), Julio César Godoy Toscano (PRD), Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo (PRD) and José Céspedes (PT), among others.
Sinaloa cartel: Juan Antonio Ixtláhuac (PRI), Ernesto Ruffo (PAN), Rodolfo Dorador (PAN), Armando Ríos Piter (PRD).
Beltrán-Leyva Cartel: Guillermo Anaya (PAN) and Ricardo Villarreal (PAN).
Juárez cartel: Manlio Fabio Beltrones (PRI) and Héctor Murguía (PRI).
Los Zetas: Miguel Ángel Yunes (PAN), Javier López Zavala (PRI), Darío Badillo (PRI), Ricardo Astudillo Suárez (PVEM) and David Monreal Ávila (PT) candidate for governor of Zacatecas.
Gulf cartel: Francisco Cabeza de Vaca (PAN) and Baltazar Hernández (PRI) candidates for governor of Tamaulipas; Juan José Rojas Cardona (the casino czar), Ulises Ramírez (PAN), among others. Edelmiro Sánchez, a witness in the murder of the Nuevo León congressman Hernán Belden; Luis Alberto Villarreal (PAN), Jorge Villalobos (PAN), Martín López Cisneros (PAN) and Máximo Othón Zayas (PAN).
Amezcua cartel: Carlos Lomelí (MC).
Los Rojos: Rabindranath Salazar (Morena).
Arriola cartel: Alejandro Cano Ricaud, Ascensión Orihuela (PRI), a former candidate for governor of Michoacán that has been linked to four criminal organization: La Familia, Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación and Beltrán-Leyva Cartel; Samuel Gurrión with Gregorio Sánchez, a suspected money launderer; Alfredo Anaya Gudiño with Francisco Sahagún Baca, a police officer involved in drug trafficking. Alejandro Cano Ricaud (PRI) with the criminal group Los Arriola and Hugo Héctor Martínez (PRI) of Coahuila, according to anonymous complaints that led to an official investigation.
The diverse nature of the institutions and accusers warns against the temptation to jump to conclusions about the credibility of the allegations.
Jorge Iván Villalobos Seáñez, Former PAN Deputy (2012-2015), said that he had no responsibility in the nomination of Guadalupe Lucero Sánchez López.
Villalobos was delegate of the PAN committee in Sinaloa when Sánchez was nominated. He has been accused of influence peddling in federal agencies, promoting the appointment of senior tax officials and even interceding to obtain permits for casinos.
However the most sensitive issue is his relationship with Edelmiro Sánchez Hernández, the last person who saw Hernán Belden Elizondo alive. The former PAN Deputy was murdered on November 11, 2012.
Sánchez Hernández, who was arrested in 2004 for possession of 87 kilos of marijuana, made a first statement as a witness on Belden's case, but when the attorney general of Nuevo León (PGJNL) called him for a second hearing, he vanished and authorities have not been able to find him ever since.
He had been identified as a casual operator of the National Committee of the PAN in Nuevo León. Villalobos denied the report. While the Interpol was searching him, Edelmiro Sánchez reemerged in January 2014 at a party of PAN deputies in Puerto Vallarta, a video of which started circulating in August. The party was attended by the following lawmakers: Luis Alberto Villarreal, Martín López Cisneros, Máximo Othón Zayas and former legislator Alejandro Zapata Perogordo. In the video, Villalobos is chatting with Edelmiro Sánchez. Apparently, no one reported the presence of Sánchez to authorities.
