Armando Linares: former collaborator accused Michoacán prosecutor for attacks on journalist

After the head of the Attorney General of the State (FGE) of Michoacán, Adrián López Solis, announced the identity of two of the alleged responsible for the murder of journalist Armando Linares López, one of the former members of the Michoacán Monitor accused him of attacks against the communicator.

In an interview with Azucena Uresti, a former collaborator of the Michoacán Monitor, where Linares López worked, he said that behind the journalist's murder are members of the entity's political class.

“I am sure that those who agreed and prepared was a group of the political class of Michoacán, obviously using other people who have this criminal link, those who kill Roberto and Armando are just the ones who did it. It is the last link in the criminal chain that exists, but it is a political crime, it is a crime orchestrated from the base and the political class,” said the former member of the Michoacán Monitor, however, he preferred not to reveal his identity for reasons of security.

He also mentioned that Armando Linares, in his journalistic work, was the one who demonstrated corruption, abuse of power and the violation of human rights in the entity. However, he also commented that 15 days before his murder he filed a complaint against “ten or fifteen public servants”. He also revealed that after the journalist's descent, the Motor de Michoacán had to end its operations due to a series of threats.

“It is not possible that the prosecutor being investigated in Mexico City is the one who is investigating the murder of Armando Linares, when he was the one Armando denounced as part of that orchestration and those attacks,” he added.

On Tuesday, March 22, the Prosecutor's Office announced that, based on the investigative work of the Specialized Investigation Unit on Intent Homicide and Femicide in coordination with federal authorities, they have identified who was allegedly the perpetrator of the murder, in addition to one more subject who participated in the events. As a result, the Public Prosecutor's Office obtained the corresponding arrest warrants.

The FGE determined to offer a reward to anyone who provides information that results with the capture of those investigated. It was López Solis himself who made their identity known: Carlos Gerardo Sánchez Mendoza and Magdiel Urbina Chimal. For each one, the agency offers a remuneration of 100,000 pesos.

Similarly, the Office of the Prosecutor informed that it will request cooperation with the national level in the dissemination of the ID and the same will be done for the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to grant the issuance of the corresponding red tokens.

At the state level, investigations will continue with inter-agency efforts to secure the arrest of the aforementioned Sánchez and Urbina. However, the investigation will not end with the probable apprehensions of the subjects, but will continue to clarify more precisely the facts where Armando Linares lost his life.

In the same vein, the prosecutor shared with reservations that there are already lines of investigation and possible motives on the attack, but in order not to intervene in the work of the authorities, he did not reveal more.

“Everything indicates that there are more people involved who participated in these events,” said López Solis.

Margarito Esquivel Martínez, Lourdes Maldonado, Roberto Toledo, Heber López Vazquez, Jorge Camero Zazueta, Juan Carlos Muñiz and Armando Linares are the names of the journalists who have been killed so far in 2022.

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