Gonzalez identified the victim as homicide investigator Rolando Armando Flores Villegas. This is the same investigator who delivered documents to a CHANNEL 5 NEWS crew over the weekend in Reynosa. He also provided our crew with information about two Mexican brothers, alleged Zeta Cartel members, suspected of involvement in the alleged murder of David Hartley.
...[Flores]Villegas said Juan Pedro and Jose Manuel Saldivar Farias are suspected members of the Zeta drug cartel, wanted criminals, and members of a pirate gang that has been terrorizing boaters on Falcon Lake and residents of a nearby town.
The Tamaulipas State Police Commander Juan Carlos Ballesteros gave similar information to a Spanish network over the weekend.
According to research conducted in coordination between the sheriff of Zapata, Texas, Sigifredo González and the group leader of the Ministerial Police Miguel German, Tamaulipas, Juan Carlos Ballesteros, those responsible were already identified as Juan Pedro Zaldivar Farias alias "The 27 "and José Manuel Zaldívar Farias alias" El 31 ".
Mexican prosecutors quickly shut down the report, to no avail. Why would Flores be killed? Perhaps because he (and the police chief) gave the information to the media. How would anyone know about it? Because the media published it. More here.
A groundswell of media criticism, mostly from right-wing politicians in the U.S., accused Mexico of not seriously investigating the disappearance. Did the Mexican police feel backed into a corner and decide to divulge specifics to the media to refute the accusation and preserve their reputations? If so, it was an unwise response that may have resulted in Flores' murder. The details and names should have been kept from the public until an arrest was made.
From tonight's KRGV KRGV TV article, on the Texas sheriff's belief as to what happened (Again, he's the source of the decapitation story):
" I would assume he was killed because he was either trying to assist in the rescue operation or search operation, or because he may have provided some documents to the media, from what I understand," Gonzalez said.
The news station seems to tout its having received and published the info from Flores (Villegas) at the same time or shortly after the Mexican station got the info from Ballesteros:
The Mexican brothers were named as suspects in the Sept. 30 reported deadly shooting of David Hartley on Falcon Lake. ... Villegas provided CHANNEL 5 NEWS with two documents from the Mexican State of Tamaulipas. The documents contain information about one of the brothers, Juan Pedro, including his last known address in the Mexican town of Guerrero. Villegas told CHANNEL 5 NEWS the two suspects were not available, as it is often difficult to obtain photos of known cartel members. Villegas said the brothers had not been arrested as of Sunday evening.
...On Saturday, Tamaulipas State Police Unit chief Juan Carlos Ballesteros released similar information and documents to members of the Mexican media and CHANNEL 5 NEWS sources.
Criminal investigations should take place in private. It's trials that take place in public. If Flores' killing is related to the Hartley disappearance, the politicians trying to score off the Hartley family's misfortune, the media, mostly seeking a leg up on the story, and the unwise police response to the criticism, all share some of the blame for putting Flores at risk of being killed.
On the other hand, there may be no direct correlation with Flores' investigation of the Hartley case. There was a shootout in Ciudad Mier the other day between the Hartley team and pirates. Three pirates were killed. Maybe it was retribution for the pirate deaths.
...On Friday, Mexican officials came under attack on their side of the binational waterway during their own search operation, Gonzalez said.
Mexican Army Lt. Héctor Gerardo López Arellanes confirmed the attack occurred in Ciudad Mier as a convoy was on its way from Miguel Alemán to Falcon Reservoir to continue with the search. Three drug cartel members were killed, but no soldiers were injured in the incident.
Flores and his team had embarked on their journey on Wednesday:
The same authorities in Miguel Aleman who questioned the account of his wife, Tiffany Young-Hartley — who has said she survived the attack and who reported the incident to U.S. officials — departed for the reservoir at 8 a.m. Wednesday. The Tamaulipas State Police commander in Miguel Aleman, Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, took all his staff to aid in the search and assist the District Attorney for Nueva Ciudad Guerrero and Ciudad Mier, Marco Antonio Guerrero Carrizales ...t it appears public pressure — including Tuesday's media blitz by the Hartley family on national TV — prompted the redoubled efforts to locate the body.
One last thought: The police (and thus the media) use the words "pirates," "drug cartel" and "Zetas" interchangeably. I'm skeptical that all pirates around the lake are cartel members. Seems like they would have bigger fish to fry than to spend their time harassing or robbing tourists on a lake on a routine basis. And if it is an accurate representation, maybe the drug business isn't as lucrative as the Government wants us to believe.
