Gustavo Castillo Garcia
The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, September 8, 2024, p. 14
Gildardo Lopez Astudillo, Cape Gilidentified as one of the main people involved in the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students, was placed at the disposal of a federal judge based in the Federal Center of Criminal Justice, in Almoloya de Juárez, and is currently imprisoned in the Federal Center for Social Readaptation number 1, Altiplano, in the state of Mexico.
Cape Gil He was arrested for the first time in September 2015, based on an arrest warrant obtained from the accusations of cartel members. United Warriorsalso involved in the disappearance of the 43 students in September 2014.
According to the investigations, which can be consulted on the website of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), López Astudillo was an intermediary between Sidronio Casarrubias, leader of United Warriorsand The Chuckyidentified as the chief hitman of the criminal organization.
Federal agents found messages on Casarrubias’ phone The Gil in which he informed him that he had some “contras” in his power (in reference to The Redsenemies of United Warriorsalthough both groups were split off from the Beltrán Leyva cartel), as they supposedly identified the normalistas on September 26, 2014, and for which they would have attacked them.
He responded via another text message to proceed ”as you know, make them disappear.”
López Astudillo received a group of students between the night of September 26 and the early morning of the 27th in a place in Loma de Coyote, located four kilometers from the house of the now detained man, and allegedly ordered their execution.
After being imprisoned for almost four years, Cape Gil He was released. On August 24, 2019, the First District Court for Federal Criminal Proceedings in Tamaulipas ordered his release because he was allegedly subjected to acts of torture, without analyzing whether there was legally obtained evidence to prove his responsibility for the events.
In 2020, the Special Prosecutor’s Office for the Ayotzinapa case granted him the benefit of being a collaborating witness, and at the beginning of this year, the proceedings against him were restarted. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office obtained two arrest warrants, so on Thursday he was arrested again and is now in prison at Cefereso No. 1 awaiting the definition of his legal situation.
