Mexico: Arrest Warrant Issued for Former Governor, Other Officials for Torture of Journalist

A federal court issued an arrest warrant against four men, including a former governor of the Mexican state of Puebla, for the kidnap and torture of journalist Lydia Cacho after she exposed a human trafficking network all over Mexico.

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Federal government sources confirmed that on April 11 judge Maria Elena Suarez Prestamo, head of the First Circuit Court of Quintana Roo, revoked a previous ruling by a Second District state judge who had refused to issue an arrest warrant against Mario Plutarco Marin Torres, former governor of Puebla; Hugo Adolfo Karam Beltran, former head of the state police; Juan Sanchez Moreno, former director of the now-defunct Judicial Order group, and businessman Jose Kamel Nacif Borge, for the crime of torture of  journalist Lydia Cacho.

"The appeal has been revoked ...  arrest warrants has been issued against Juan Sanchez Moreno, Hugo Adolfo Karam Beltran, Mario Plutarco Marin Torres and Jose Kamel Nacif Borge, for being suspected of acts of torture," read the resolution.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office has been ordered to arrest the accused while ordering the judge to carry out all necessary procedures to comply with the resolution.

Mexican journalist and human rights defender Lydia Cacho was harrassed after the publication of 'The Demons of Eden,' an investigative report into a human trafficking and child exploitation ring in the state of Quintana Roo. Her book targeted different officials who were part of the network.

My name is Lydia Cacho, I am a journalist, defender of Human Rights and I will not give up until justice is done, because this case of organized crime and child pornography is all over the country.

Lydia Cacho was detained in Cancun in 2005 for defamation charges by Puebla police. She was then transferred to Puebla in a 20-hour trip in which police threatened her with rape, and forced a gun nto her mouth. 

A year later, phone recordings between Nacif Borge and ex-governor Marin Torres were released in which they referred to Cacho's arrest.

Since her book was published, the journalist received regular death threats. Lydia Cacho received a public apology from the Mexican government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) on January 2019 who officially recognized that she suffered violations of human rights.