A former prosecutor and local police official has been arrested in connection with the brutal decapitation of Alejandro Arcos, the newly elected mayor of Chilpancingo, Mexico, on October 6. Germán Reyes was taken into custody on homicide charges, just a week after Arcos assumed office as the mayor of Guerrero state’s capital.
The arrest has raised eyebrows, as officials initially attributed the killing to a local drug and extortion gang. Reyes previously held a high-level position as the special prosecutor for Guerrero and had a military background, retiring as a captain in the military justice system. This raises suspicions of potential collusion between Reyes and the gang involved in the murder.
If convicted, Reyes’ arrest would deal a significant blow to the trend in Mexico of appointing retired military officers to top police positions, under the belief that they are less susceptible to corruption. Furthermore, the reliance on federal forces, such as soldiers and the National Guard, to conduct the arrest indicates a lack of trust in local and state police agencies, which typically handle such operations.
Details about Reyes’ role within the Chilpancingo municipal security force remain unclear, including whether he served under Arcos or the mayor who succeeded him.
Mexico’s top federal security official, Omar García Harfuch, reported that Arcos was found dead in a pickup truck with his severed head displayed on the roof. He claimed that the same gang responsible for Arcos’ murder was involved in the recent killings of 11 market vendors, including four minors. These vendors were abducted while traveling to sell their goods, and their bodies were subsequently discovered in a truck on a Chilpancingo avenue.
Although neither state prosecutors nor García Harfuch identified the gang, a local human rights activist indicated that the Ardillos gang was behind the murders. The activist, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, stated that the Ardillos control significant areas of the state and have infiltrated its political structure, including state congressmen and other officials.
The Ardillos are embroiled in a long-standing turf war with a rival gang, the Tlacos, which has led to a rise in violence and corpses left in the streets of Chilpancingo, a city of approximately 300,000 residents. In 2023, one gang even orchestrated a demonstration involving hundreds of people, seizing a government armored vehicle and blocking a major highway to demand the release of detained members.
As violence in Guerrero has escalated, Roman Catholic bishops announced earlier this year that they facilitated a truce between two rival drug cartels in another area of the state. Former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had resisted confronting gangs during his administration, expressed support for such peace efforts.
“Priests, pastors, and church members have participated in efforts to pacify the country, and I think it is very good,” López Obrador stated before leaving office on September 30.
Credit: ABC News
