The shadow of the scandal hovers over Cuauhtémoc Blanco after appearing portrayed with alleged criminals

Bad times for Cuauhtémoc Blanco in Morelos. Criticized for his long December trip to Brazil, an absence being investigated by the local Prosecutor’s Office, the governor is now facing criticism for a photo published in a regional newspaper, The Sun of Cuernavaca, in which he appears embracing with suspected criminals from the region. Questioned, Blanco has tried to settle the controversy this Tuesday: “They ask me for a lot of photos and I’m not going to ask them.”

Boosted to the governorship in 2018 by the Social Encounter Party (PES), an evangelical formation ally of Morena, Blanco can hardly boast achievements in Morelos. Murders are on the rise in the state, which shares a border and criminal dynamics with Guerrero, where the situation has also worsened in recent months. Cuernavaca, the capital, of which Blanco was mayor until 2018, has experienced a convulsed year due to continuous problems in the water supply system or garbage collection, with constant demonstrations, even on the road that connects the municipality with Acapulco. and Mexico City.

Confident in his fame as a scorer, Blanco tends to throw balls out in government matters. On December 22, the president, originally from the Mexican capital, absent himself from office citing family reasons. Days later they captured him in Rio de Janeiro, where he visited the Maracana Stadium. Blanco was in Brazil for 17 days, a vacation that provoked criticism from the recently appointed mayor of Cuernavaca, José Luis Urióstegui, of the PAN, right now the most important counter-power in the state.

In the photo of the controversy, the governor poses with Irving Eduardo Solano and Raymundo Isidro Castro, alleged leaders of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) in the area, and with Horacio Figueroa, alleged leader of a regional criminal group, Comando Tlahuica, Old acquaintance of the authorities for his alleged participation in the murder of activist Samir Flores. The Sun of Cuernavaca points out that the photo would have been taken at a meeting at Blanco’s house, in the Tabachines neighborhood of Cuernavaca. The newspaper indicates that the image would date from the end of January or the beginning of February 2019.

The governor, a Mexican soccer idol, answered questions to the press this Tuesday. Blanco has avoided clarifying whether the photo was taken at home and has insisted that the image does not imply, in any case, negotiations or agreements of his Government with the crime. “We are going to be a little bit rational. Do you think I’m going to bring alleged drug criminals into my house? We have caught them! A little respect, nothing more ”.

Far from resolving any doubts about the eternal suspicion about the proximity between crime and the State, Blanco’s statements further confuse the panorama. If the photo is true, why did the governor, who has his team of advisers, meet with local crime leaders? So that? Did you negotiate something? If so, what? Is your claim about the supposed spontaneity of the image credible? Does the place where the photo was taken, the governor’s house, or any other space change things?

Of the alleged criminals in the image, only one would still be active. Of the other two, one has died and the other is in custody. A prisoner in a Morelos prison, Raymundo Isidro Castro, an alleged local leader of the CJNG, died at the end of last year during a riot, as reported by local authorities at the time. Earlier, in February, the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) and the Secretary of Defense arrested Irving Eduardo Solano in Cuautla, Morelos. The press has linked the latter to both the CJNG and Guerreros Unidos, a famous name in the underworld for his participation in the attack against the normalista students of Ayotzinapa, in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2104.

The third, Horacio Figueroa, would lead the Comando Tlahuica, a regional group that allegedly arose from Guerreros Unidos, which the local authorities consider dismantled, after the arrests made in recent years. Local press reports indicate that this group is behind the water supply problem in Cuernavaca, at least partially. The city has recognized that its debt with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has to do with the problem. The debt has led to power outages by the CFE. Without electricity, the wells in the local water system cannot pump water into the drinking water network.

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