After nearly two years of investigation, the case of the attack against journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva reached a crucial point with the sentences handed down to two of those involved. During the court hearings, it was revealed for the first time who ordered the attack: according to the confession of one of the hitmen, it was “an order from Mr. Mencho,” referring to Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The statement was read at a hearing by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), through Ricardo Sánchez Pérez del Pozo, head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE), during the hearings held this Tuesday, June 10.
The journalist was attacked on the night of December 15, 2022, 200 meters from his home, after leaving a recording studio for his evening newscast in the Florida neighborhood of Mexico City. Two men on a motorcycle shot him at least nine times. Gómez Leyva survived thanks to the armored vehicle’s armor.
El Patrón, identified as the mastermind of the crime, gave them a photograph of Gómez Leyva and stated that the attack was “an order from Mr. Mencho.”
According to court statements presented by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), the perpetrators of the attack were sent weeks later to a CJNG training center in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, where they were instructed in the use of weapons by an individual identified as El Primo, a Colombian national. The camp, located in a mountainous area, also housed men from Guatemala and El Salvador.
Other members of the criminal cell were also identified: Juan Antonio Cisneros, alias El Dedotes, and Israel Jiménez Ávila, alias El Yeyé, who, along with El Bart, received the same training in Ciudad Guzmán.
It was revealed that those involved traveled to Ciudad Guzmán on November 18, 2022, and turned off their cell phones upon arrival, as a measure to avoid tracking. They returned to the Mexican capital on December 13, two days before the attack.
