Judge seizes accounts from the family of a subject accused of pedophilia

Sanjuana Martínez

La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, January 11, 2026, p. 11

The twenty-fifth civil court of Mexico City admitted a claim for moral damage and established precautionary measures to seize the bank accounts, trusts, investments, properties and operations of any financial nature of the Riva Palacio Nieto family, in order to repair the damage to a victim of sexual abuse by Felipe Riva Palacio Nieto.

This is an unprecedented decision that marks a judicial precedent in favor of victims of child sexual abuse and the non-prescription of crimes, as well as punishment for those who protect the reported aggressors.

“I have had to seek a bit of justice through another path. I only asked for crimes committed during my childhood; I never wanted to come to this point of seizing properties, an arrest warrant… but all this is nothing more than a consequence of their actions,” says Salvador Cacho González, in an interview with The Day.

Felipe Riva Palacio Nieto, his uncle, 45 years old, of Mexican and Spanish nationality, abused him between the ages of six and 14. In June 2025, after criminally denouncing him in February, the aggressor fled to Spain with the help of his father, Felipe Riva Palacio Guerrero, former technical secretary of Conaculta; of his wife Tory, and of his two daughters Mariana and Victoria. Two months later he was arrested in Madrid, but the National Court refused to extradite him to Mexico, arguing that according to its laws, the crimes were statute-barred.

Riva Palacio Nieto now lives free in Spain: “When I decided to report, I did so assuming certain scenarios that lived in my head, but I never thought about the twists and turns that this whole case has taken. Above all, I never thought it would be so complicated to find justice. Those who called themselves my own family were the first to betray every ethical and moral code and the first to help a pedophile escape,” he says.

When the criminal path was closed to him, Salvador Cacho, 37 years old, and his lawyers Nassar, and especially Andrés Hernández Carlsen, thought of opening a new avenue for the search for justice, this time, on the civil side, in order to finally ensure that the Mexican State gives him the status of victim and his aggressor has to recognize the facts.

“It was a complicated decision because it is once again returning to those places from my past that I would no longer want to see; but I want to see injustice even less and know that corruption can make these types of crimes go unpunished. Enough of living in a country where consequences do not exist.”

Thus, the lawsuit was not only against his attacker, but against his nuclear family, who have been accomplices and have helped him evade justice. “Victoria, his sister, sheltered him in Spain to the extent that when they arrested him for the Interpol red card, she was in the car with him and her children. This seems crazy to me because the latter are also survivors of sexual violence.

“For me it is schizophrenic that she ignores the accusation against her brother and puts him together with her children, who have already had to go through this, which is the most horrible thing I can think of in a child’s childhood.”

In fact, when he was arrested in Spain, Felipe was accompanied by his sister Victoria and his nephews. “She hosted him at her home, which shows that there is a relationship of collaboration or cover-up.”

He also sued the father. He has been the one who has financed everything. Felipe works in Madrid at FCC as an archivist and I want to know how he managed to pay the inhuman Manuel Ollé (Humberto Moreira’s lawyer), who charges fortunes for ensuring that the most corrupt Mexican politicians are not extradited. Everything has been borne by his father, who from the beginning has refused to see a reality that crushes him: his son is a pedophile rapist, and of course, with the sexist mentality he has, he cannot think that his only man is a good-for-nothing, that the only thing he will be remembered for in the world is as a sexual offender of minors.

He adds: “My uncle Felipe dropped the house of cards with which he played at being the great patriarch, and he realized that everything he and his wife Tory had built was on a foundation of lies, deception and a zero code of good customs, ethics or morals. We do not talk about love, family and congruence… they are words that they do not know and were never part of their social construction.”

Determination

For now, the bank accounts and trusts of the four members of the Riva Palacio Nieto family were seized for amounts established before the National Banking and Securities Commission. The judge also ordered the seizure of the family’s properties in the state of Mexico and issued a restraining order to the father of the aggressor, so that he cannot escape from Mexico, as his son did.

With this measure, the victim seeks that her aggressor and his accomplices offer public apologies, accept the facts and, in accordance with the law, grant compensation for moral damage. Cacho González has stated that the amount he wins in the trial will be donated to the Freedom Foundation, which helps victims and survivors of child sexual violence.

Her lawyers have taken advantage of the evidence that lawyer Manuel Ollé used to defend the aggressor: an email from Victoria, where she asks him to go to Spain to help her take care of her children. They also included the plane tickets that are part of the investigation folder of the criminal complaint.

“Impunity derives from the acts and actions of people who at some point in their lives said they were family and who helped a pedophile flee,” he stated.

“It is unheard of. How is it possible that his own sisters, being mothers, have not been able to see beyond their noses and have covered up for someone accused of transgressing the purest thing that a child has: his childhood, his innocence and his dignity. They have helped and sheltered him to be able to remain free. They are his accomplices. His parents and his sisters have been his cronies to ensure that a pedophile is free in the world, most likely abusing more and more boys and girls,” denounces Salvador Cacho. in his writing to the judge.

“I don’t want to be just a whistleblower”

In his resolution, the judge points out that Victoria, one of the co-defendants, currently resides in Spain: “It is proven that there is a well-founded fear that the co-defendants who reside in the country will be absent or hide. It was not possible to extradite one of them to continue the legal process for sexual crimes in Mexican territory. It is considered that there is sufficient evidence to presume the fear that there may be concealment or alienation of the assets, the precautionary security of which is requested.”

Salvador regrets that his aggressor continues to live in another country: “The retrograde Spanish State appealed to the statute of limitations to not grant his extradition so that he could return to face justice. I have had to seek some of this in another way; I deserve reparation for the damage for the acts committed by my aggressor and his accomplices.”

He adds: “It is very important for me to recognize the facts and for Mexico to confer on me the status of victim that corresponds to me: I do not want to be anything more than a whistleblower.”

He claims to seek not only reparation for the damage to which he is entitled, but also an official claim. “The most important thing is the recognition of the events that I suffered,” he asserts.

Felipe Riva Palacio Nieto, defended by Francisco Acevedo and Óscar Felipe Villanueva Aceituno, was denied protection with which he intended to return to Mexico, which is why the arrest warrant against him remains in force and with it the red card from Interpol.

Salvador Cacho remembers that Mexico ranks first in child sexual abuse worldwide. According to the Citizen Council for Security and Justice of Mexico City, in the first half of 2025 reports of human trafficking related to child pornography increased 86 percent compared to the same period in 2024.

Between January and June 2025, this crime registered an increase of 15.7 percent compared to the previous year (going from 1,248 to 1,444 reported cases), according to data from the Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico. Meanwhile, the number of minors treated for sexual violence in 2023 was the second highest since 2010, doubling the historical annual average.

Salvador Cacho’s life changed since he decided to denounce and raise his voice seeking justice. Now she is an activist for children’s rights and the protection of minors to prevent sexual abuse.

Since then, he has led a national and international movement that makes those attacked visible and vindicates their rights, remembering, with great respect, that those affected by sexual abuse speak when they can.

“It is estimated that 92.9 percent of crimes in Mexico are not reported or do not lead to an investigation file. In sexual crimes, the figure is usually even higher due to fear and stigma. In my case it was not fear of a stigma. Every morning I repeat to myself that what happened to me marks me, but I will never let it define me. In my situation, impunity comes from the acts and actions of people who at some point in their lives said they were family, and who helped a pedophile escape.”