The “Pino” of the CJNG was arrested for the murder of a journalist from Veracruz

Gustavo Abigail Díaz, el Pino, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was arrested for his alleged responsibility in the murder of Veracruz journalist Julio Valdivia Rodríguez, who was beheaded in the municipality of Tezonapa in late 2020.

The Veracruz Prosecutor's Office indicated that the alleged criminal leader was secured in coordination with federal authorities by criminal proceedings 224/2020. While the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection identified it as a priority target on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

“Respecting your human rights and due process, you will be presented at an initial hearing before the judge of oral criminal trial and procedure of the supervisory court of the eleventh district of Xalapa residing in Pacho Viejo,” said the ministerial authority.

El Pino fell in Amozoc, Puebla, and despite his alleged links with the CJNG in various crimes, the charge he faces is that of intentional homicide against the journalist executed on September 9, 2020.

Valdivia Rodríguez covered the red note fountain for El Mundo de Córdoba, where he collaborated as a Tezonapa correspondent. Reports indicated that he had already reported threats. He became the twenty-fifth journalist killed in the state until eight years earlier.

His remains were abandoned near railroad tracks between the communities of Paraíso and Motzorongo. The motorcycle with which he was transporting for work was found near his body.

A year and a half after the assassination, the operation was deployed to find Gustavo Abigail Díaz, son of former Oaxaca local deputy Gustavo Diaz Sanchez, el Gato, who is also prosecuted on charges similar to his offspring.

Julio Valdivia Rodríguez was known as El Tigre del Norte because of a tuft of gray hair that resembled that of a musician from a northern group. He earned a salary of a thousand Mexican pesos a week, the cost of his life for reporting security issues in the most violent state for journalists in Mexico.

According to federal authorities, El Pino is linked to crimes of extortion, huachicol, kidnapping, smuggling of migrants and drugs, as well as theft of cargo transport with complaints by various national business chambers and groups of the bouquet.

Cuitláhuac García, governor of Veracruz, pointed out that this subject was continuing his illegal activities in the municipality of Tezonapa, but in Oaxaca his illicit acts were identified in Cosolapa. In this demarcation the crimes of former deputy Díaz Sánchez were located.

The former official fell in November last year in Fortin de las Flores, along with his other son, Alberto Díaz, el Pelón, and Oliver “N”. The arrest was for murders and outrages of authority in the state in the Gulf of Mexico. Although in Oaxaca they are also looking for him on other related accusations.

When the Oaxacan man fell into the hands of justice, residents of the mayors in which he operated demonstrated with the closure of circulations and burning tires to demand his release.

“It was curious that once they stopped some people started to stop among thugs and some people to block booths in Oaxaca and the entrance to Tuxtepec, they set fire to some vehicles and that is what we have to investigate,” Cuitláhuac García said at the time.

The emergence of CJNG in Oaxaca dates back to October 2017, when they announced its expansion through their customary videos. On that occasion, armed men claimed that they belonged to the faction commanded by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, el Mencho, and arrived to exterminate rivals.

At that time, the convoy of at least six vehicles entered the municipality of Loma Bonita in the region of the Papaloapan Basin. Previously, Governor Alejandro Murat had denied the presence of criminal groups in the state.

In its early days, CJNG served in Veracruz as an armed arm of the Sinaloa Cartel to execute rivals and they became known as the Matazetas. They then consolidated as an organization with Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, el Mencho, and by 2013 they announced their demarcation with the Sinaloans.

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