Michoacan Drug Lord 'La Tuta' Taunts Mexican Authorities with Videos The New York Times | |
go to original August 1, 2014 |
La cumbre Vallejo-La Tuta (Quadratín México)
MEXICO CITY — Drug lords in Mexico normally try to stay out of the limelight, amassing an army to help hide them and employing plastic surgeons to alter their features.
Not Servando Gómez, one of the most sought-after kingpins and a leader of a brutal gang that gave rise to vigilante groups in Michoacán State, who in recent months has made regular appearances on television, news media websites and YouTube.
In his latest online video (above), Mr. Gómez, known as “La Tuta,” or the teacher, is shown in a video posted this week drinking beer and chatting with the son of a former governor of Michoacán, suggesting his gang’s deep infiltration of the political class. The two men laugh and joke about several public officials.
The Mexican authorities said Wednesday that they are investigating the circumstances of the video, which was leaked to the news website Quadrantin, and will seek to question Rodrigo Vallejo, the son of the former governor, Fausto Vallejo, who stepped down in June. His resignation occurred days after a picture of his son with Mr. Gómez was leaked to newspapers.
Rodrigo Vallejo said in a Facebook post that he was forced to attend the meeting and that the video was edited in a manner that made him look guilty. His father said in a letter posted to Facebook and Twitter that Rodrigo was forced to attend the meeting because he had been kidnapped.
Michoacán is one of Mexico’s most violent states, in large part because of the killings, kidnappings and extortion by the criminal group Mr. Gómez leads, the Knights Templar.
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