File on Political Assassination Missing from AG’s Office

(Chilpancingo, AN 26 April) During the administration of Governor Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo, more than 38 incidents of political assassination took place, and not one was ever solved. The most notorious was the murder of the president of the state legislative assembly, Armando Chavarría, in 2009. Incoming governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero committed his administration to solving the large backlog of political murders and assaults, including this one and the maiming and near murder of PRD official Guillermo Sánchez Nava, by zealots of the opposing party, the PRI.

The new attorney general, Alberto López Rosas, promised an update on these cases for the day after Easter. His announcement astonished the assembled reporters: Someone took the entire investigation file on the Chavarría matter. It is gone. They cannot even determine if the case had been forwarded to the federal attorney general, as the Zeferino administration had indicated. AG López Rosas is awaiting an answer from the nation´s capital. He also issued a summons to David Sotelo Rosas, the previous attorney general, to respond concerning the status of the case. The deadline was within 72 hours. Sotelo Rosas ignored the summons. Another former official of the state AG’s office, the presumed custodian of the file, was sought; however, he evaded service and has fled.

The AG has filed a criminal complaint against the person or persons who caused the case file to disappear.