Controversy in Veracruz: The doctor who presented the cause of death of teacher Irma Hernández is not a forensic doctor and did not perform the autopsy

The case of the femicide of Irma Hernández Cruz, a retired teacher and taxi driver in Álamo Temapache, has generated controversy not only due to the context surrounding her murder, but also due to the irregularities detected in the official presentation of the forensic results.

On Monday, July 28, the governor of Veracruz, Rocío Nahle, presented José Eduardo Márquez Nava at a press conference as a “medical examiner” to rule on the cause of death of Irma Hernández Cruz. She was kidnapped by a criminal group on July 18, forced to appear in a video in which, visibly subdued, she issued a warning to taxi drivers to pay extortion, and found dead six days later.

At that event, the governor used it to reinforce her claim that the teacher died of a heart attack; He defended the official information and criticized the case for being so widely covered in the media: “It’s despicable to take it to such a scandalous level… here’s the doctor who performed the autopsy, here he is, it’s him.”
Márquez Nava then intervened with an explanation to the media: “Yes, I’m the one who received the body. Look, as part of the autopsy protocol, our role is to perform an external and internal analysis. It’s a fact beyond words.”

The doctor explained that the teacher died of a heart attack after suffering multiple physical assaults and described the internal and external findings observed.

However, this Thursday, doubts began to arise about the professional identity of the person who served as the forensic spokesperson.

Fake medical examiner?

A search of the National Registry of Professionals of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) shows that José Eduardo Márquez Nava holds a professional license as a surgeon, issued in 2018 by the Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, with ID number 11155803.