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Friday, October 28, 2022

3 Hired Killers Sentenced in Tijuana Journalist Lourdes Maldonado's Murder, Former Baja Governor Jaime Bonilla Denies Involvement

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Journalist Lourdes Maldonado was killed by a single gunshot days after securing a judgment for back pay from her former employer, former BC Governor Bonilla.

The three men convicted of murdering journalist Lourdes Maldonado received their prison terms late Wednesday afternoon. Erik Contreras and Kevin Villarino got 20-year sentences, while Guillermo Castro got 24 years. They agreed to a plea deal to avoid a trial and possibly longer prison sentences. The trio was also ordered to pay restitution and funeral expenses to Maldonado’s family totaling almost 500,000 pesos or about $25,000.

During the sentencing, Castro, Contreras, and Villarino were described as talking among themselves and even laughing out loud at times. They asked to be imprisoned at the La Mesa Penitentiary in Tijuana, to which the judge agreed. Before the incident, Villarino worked as a cook, Contreras was a taxi driver and Castro worked in construction.



On Jan. 23, 2022, Maldonado was murdered as she arrived home in her car; she was shot in the face once. According to court documents, Castro pulled the trigger. Images recorded by surveillance cameras were shown depicting the three men waiting for Maldonado in a taxi across the street from her house. Witnesses at the scene confirmed seeing the men in the cab waiting for Maldonado, and they reported seeing Castro walk up to her and shoot her once through the driver-side window before returning to the taxi, which drove away soon thereafter.

Former Baja California Governor, now Mexican Senator Jaime Bonilla.

Former Baja California Governor Denies Ties to the Murder

According to prosecutors, each received $5,000 to kill Maldonado. During the sentencing, there was no mention of a motive or who hired them to commit the murder. The former governor of Baja California has been named as a “person of interest” in the investigation into the murder.

Days before her death, Maldonado won a lawsuit for back wages against her ex-employer, former Baja California Gov. Jaime Bonilla, for whom she worked years ago at his media company. It is known that Maldonado accessed the Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists for almost a year due to threats that she would have received from envoys of the now-former governor, according to what she said at an ANPAC meeting.

On January 19, 2022, it was reported that PSN (Media Sport de México S.A. de C.V.) had been seized and that Bonilla Valdez had to pay her lost wages, benefits, and costs, which, according to the journalist, exceeded 500,000 pesos or around $25,000 USD.

In a news conference Thursday morning, state Attorney General Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez said his office is still looking for the people who ordered Maldonado’s murder, something many people, especially fellow journalists, have been demanding.

He confirmed that one person of interest is former Gov. Jaime Bonilla, who is now a senator in Mexico. “He is now a subject in the investigation,” Carpio Sánchez said. Days before her death, a court had ordered Bonilla to pay her thousands of dollars in back wages, something he said he would never do. Carpio Sánchez said the men involved in Maldonado’s killing are expected to cooperate further, and that they have already provided information.

Sources Border Report, Border Report, Borderland Beat


26 comments:

  1. So, how much of a 20 year sentence do they actually do?

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  2. Mexico has been on their shit lately 🤔

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    1. Your an idiot. No they have not. You have no idea how it actually works down there

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    2. Bonulla tried to steal 4 more years of his "fill in" governorship period of 2 years, he quit bitching because he nailed his nomination for senator, and won't be prosecuted until he finishes, the Mexican senate is full of criminals, congress too, not all of them are opposition.

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  3. Want to go see Hell, go to Mexico.

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    1. And millions of americans choosing Mexico for tourism or retire. I know thats hard to admit.

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    2. Mexico seem to be he'll only if you are a national that is poor. Seeing this shit not covered by CNN and Fox shows me that American Media gives a fuck about places half way around the world, but not our souther neighbor. It makes me wonder if the drug trafficking organizations actually are useful to the powers that be in America. I can't fathom why MSM on both sides ignores this kind of thing. I only hope her death empowers or inspires someone in Mexico 🇲🇽 and or 🇺🇸 to figure out what's wrong with the current state of our unions. Reporters shouldn't be killed for doing their job unless the system or systems have been compromised.

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    3. @8:58 if Mexico ever got its security problems in order there would be literally 10s of millions of more foreigners wanting to vacation and permanently live in Mexico! This would dramatically increase Mexico's GDP and wealth. One can only hope as it is such a great weather and geography from oceans to deserts, from mountains to lush forests and jungle.

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    4. 858
      EMO bitches unite

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    5. 6:37 And looks like aint stopping than tendency... American Expats love Mexico, and #1 destination. Probably Canada is not accepting them, or who knows.

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    6. 9:54 who tha hell wants to retire and go to Canada to freeze their ass all year long???
      If they were not affraid of Cuba, Puerto Rico or Dominican beach lice, they would go there to get sea sick.

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  4. Memory Eternal Maldonado ☦️

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  5. Mexico is finally learning from the U.S. Lenient sentences in exchange for cooperation. I hope that they learn that once they are sentenced that they can clam up. In the U.S., the judicial process generally ceases when witnesses cooperate and they are sentenced years later.
    This is why I'm curious about Menchito. He's been in U.S. custody for 33 months now. That's a pretty long time for a fed case and suggests that he may be cooperating with the U.S. There's a lot of give and take in these negotiations and a good attorney can do good if he has the quality of information Menchito possesses to work with. Menchito's situation is complex because he doesn't want to give up information on his family. The Mayito's pulled it off. We will have to wait and see if Menchito is even cooperating, and if so, what type of deal his attorneys manage to cook up.
    I also noticed they used the term "person of interest". This sounds more like a case out of LA rather than Tijuana.
    I guess you can call this the americanization of the Mexican judicial process.

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  6. Bonilla se hace pendejo, had to become a senator to get away with it a little longer.

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  7. It's obviously premature to suggest Menchito cooperating at this point in the game, but I'm interested in seeing how this plays out.
    Everyone thinks that Calderon and EPN were cooperating with CDS because all of their enemies were being hit without few significant hits to CDS. What actually was occurring was that Humberto Loya Castro was spoon feeding the DEA information on CDS rivals. His cooperation with the DEA started about 2005 or 2006. Vincente was arrested somewhere around 2011. He had been cooperating with the DEA prior to his arrest thanks to Loya. I don't even believe that the Mexican government was aware that Vincente was cooperating with the DEA when they arrested him.
    Mayito Gordo was arrested in 2014 and the helicopter was shot down about 8 months after his arrest.
    Keep in mind how cooperation works. Annabel Hernandez explained it in an article about Vicente. I believe she wrote a book about him as well where she called him a traitor.
    Vicente's attorney turned a large cache of court documents over to Anabel. Vicente's attorney was meeting with Mayo in person and conveying information to the DEA and passing this information on to Anabel as it happened. From Anabel, we know that this went on for at least 5 years.
    There is no evidence that either Chapo or Mayo had direct contact with the DEA. All of their communications were through Loya. Most of the upper echelons of the cartels are related to one another, are friends or former confederates, so it was easy for CDS to gather information on other cartels.
    As we have seen from the recent leaks, it is incredibly difficult to pin down just where Mencho lives. Due to the timing of Vincente's and Mayito Gordo's arrests in addition to a decade of CDS cooperation through Loya, I have always felt that CDS gave up Mencho's location in 2015. All of the backlash against Mayito Gordo's lenient sentence reinforced this feeling. CDS gave up something big to get the lenient treatment of both Mayitos and I believe that was Mencho's location.
    Now the shoe is on the other foot. Menchito is now in U.S. custody. His lengthy pretrial detention and the paucity of information suggests cooperation. I am wondering if Mencho is thinking the same thing that I'm thinking that CDS gave up his location which led to the shooting down of the helicopter.
    If my theory is correct, or even if Mencho believes that CDS gave up his location in 2015, this could get real interesting.

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    1. Yea man i believe everything that silly bitch says,shes writing books.You probably a mex-amer who thinks C.I.A F.B.I ACDC 123 killed kiko camerena,mex-amer here,so

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    2. Mencho like Lazca is in Guatemala or is it Espana? Yes Mayo Z is far seeing he gave his son vincent up for 10/20 years genius moves,fuckin certain morons believe this shit

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  8. Mexico is the devils playground. Go at your own risk of death.

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    1. What to see Hell, go to Mexico and good luck if you make it back.

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    2. Depends where in Mexico you clowns

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    3. Thats right, not even kids are safe during school.... oh wait... thats not Mexico... ☺

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  9. It’s literally obvious to anyone that Bonilla had her killed. And guess what? Mexico will never press charges against him. Ever. He gets away with murder literally and enjoys his mansions in USA. Why is he even allowed to enter USA?

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  10. Hangem high!! Oh wait, Mexico only does catch and release

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  11. I wonder what motivates someone to be a journalist in these places.

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    Replies
    1. To write the truth and put money on the table from the job.

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