Monterrey, Nuevo Leon - The Second Section of the Seventh Military Zone [covering the state of Nuevo Leon] warned Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz [governor, 2009-2015] that, thanks to the complicity of prison authorities, in Topo Chico prison Los Zetas obtained some 15 million pesos [US$795,000] per month [average of 3,845 pesos or US$204 per each of 3,900 prisoners] via the collection of fees, drug sales and other businesses, funds enabling them to finance the drug war that plagued the state of Nuevo Leon during this period.
The warning came in the middle of the administration of Medina de la Cruz. But it was not the only one: researchers from the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon published the book Prison and Family: challenges for social cohesion and development in the XXI century, which documented the tragedy experienced by the families of those held in state prisons.
In addition, human rights organizations warned about the time bomb that threatened the prisons by putting dangerous organized crime inmates together with those held for common crimes.
The military intelligence report stressed that at least five million pesos [US$265,000] of the total obtained by Los Zetas in Topo Chico were destined to bribery of guards, captains of the guards and directors of the detention center. In military circles it was rumored that bribes also reached commanders of the Secretariat of Public Security [state police]...
In Topo Chico, on December 31, 2011, Los Zetas showed that they maintained control over the prison. That day, they mounted an operation to remove Gabriela Muñiz Tamez, "The Redhead", from the prison and hang her on a pedestrian bridge on important avenue of Monterrey, because it was she girlfriend of a Gulf Cartel kingpin. The image of the woman, hanging with her torso naked, went around the world.
Despite the warning made to him by the army, Governor Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz did not move a finger to regain control of the prison, even when the murders of guards and heads of guards occurred daily.
Before the slaughter last Thursday morning, El Topo Chico housed more than 3,900 prisoners, while its maximum capacity is about 2,500.
The civil association Citizens in Support of Human Rights (CADHAC) has documented that Topo Chico prison is self-government by Los Zetas. This system is made possible by the complicity of the prison authorities, but also because the deficit in guards is 84 percent. That is, every guard has to monitor at least 100 prisoners.
Consuelo Morales, director of CADHAC, said the self-government by Los Zetas in Topo Chico means they control the sale of drugs, food, sleeping spaces, water and all kinds of items.
Consuelo Morales, director of CADHAC, said the self-government by Los Zetas in Topo Chico means they control the sale of drugs, food, sleeping spaces, water and all kinds of items.
"Each new inmate is required to pay a fee in order not to be hit or killed; on average it ranges from 1,500 pesos a week [US$80] up to 50 thousand [US$2,650] per month," said Morales.She said the relatives of inmates pay these weekly or monthly extortions, with "bonuses" which ranges from 500 to 2,000 pesos [US$27 to $106]. She emphasized that CADHAC has evidence that about 60 percent of prisoners pay these extortions.
Lack of federal intervention
If the Medina government didn't intervene in Topo Chico, the federal government did nothing to remove dangerous organized crime prisoners [i.e. federal crime offenders], who have been controlling this and other prisons.
After the defeat of the PRI in Nuevo Leon, the new independent governor Jaime Rodriguez Calderon asked Renato Sales Heredia, Commissioner of National Security, to transfer prisoners under federal jurisdiction to federal prisons. [MV Note: federal prisoners are often held in state prisons to reduce federal prison overcrowding] Renato Sales and "El Bronco" ["The Unbridled One," Rodriguez Calderón's nickname for his outspokeness] agreed to the gradual transfer of prisoners, but the agreement remained on paper only and wasn't reactivated until the massacre of the 49 inmates in Topo Chico.
One of the prisoners who was to be transferred was Jorge Iván Hernández Cantu. "El Credo", the Zeta capo who controlled Topo Chico, but police sources warned him and he obtained an amparo, [injunction] that he shouldn't be removed from the prison. Meanwhile, Juan Pedro Saldivar, " Z-27", arrived at Topo Chico thanks to an amparo that took him out of the maximum security Cereso in Matamoros; it was given by a corrupt judge who argued that the defendant did not have to be in that kind of federal prison.
Rival Zeta lords battle for control
Although both were members of Los Zetas, they contended for control of Topo Chico. The two moved about inside surrounded with 20 inmates who performed the role of bodyguards and guarded them day and night in luxurious cells where they enjoyed the pleasures offered by five-star hotels.
Every day, women came to their cells who appear on some local nighttime television programs, but if the wives, sisters or children of prisoners are attractive to them, they send for them. Because of this situation, the young women who visit Topo Chico come without makeup, wearing dirty clothes and looking as scruffy as possible.
Wednesday night February 10, at about 11pm, Z-27's group began searching for rivals to murder while El Credo was enjoying a conjugal visit. The large group of followers of Z-27 moved freely around the prison and seized inmates in two areas and took them to a courtyard where they were beaten to death.
Meanwhile, the rival group began its defense. The details are still unknown, but some relatives of inmates reported that, a few minutes later, the quarrel resulted in the kitchen, the food warehouse and other areas of the prison catching fire. At least five prisoners were beaten and thrown onto mattresses, which were set on fire.
The fight lasted about 40 minutes and at 11:52 hours it was reported to the [state] Secretariat of Public Security that there was a mutiny in Topo Chico. When General Antúnez, Secretary of Security, [many state police commanders are retired military] arrived to take control of the situation, he found a scene of dozens of deaths at various points, many in the courtyard, along with 50 wounded. About 40 of them were transferred to the rooms assigned to lawyers, where they were attended by paramedics; about 10 with serious injuries were taken to hospitals when ambulances arrived.
In an attempt to evade responsibility, "El Bronco" said that he had inherited the time bomb from Rodrigo Medina that exploded 120 days into his administration.
Other prison scandals
El Topo Chico prison operates similarly to other prisons controlled by organized crime in the region, among which stands out Altamira, from which are made 80 percent of the telephone calls seeking extortion in the northeast of the country. [MV Note: One form of extorsion in Mexico is via telephone, where the caller alleges he has kidnapped a family member or will harm a family member if not paid money via an intermediary.]
In the Gomez Palacio Cereso [Center for Social Readaptation, i.e. prison], in Durango, members of organized crime inmates left at night in vehicles and with official weapons to conduct a series of killings that took place in bars in Torreon, Coahuila.
The most dramatic and scandalous case occurred in Cereso 2 of Piedras Negras, where, between 2009 and 2011, Los Zetas killed more than 150 men and women whose bodies were incinerated. The Zeta capo, Omar Trevino Morales, "Z-42", hid in that prison when the Navy was conducting operations to capture him. In September 2012, 132 prisoners left through the front door of the prison. Spanish original