"El Cuini" accuses prison authorities of torture

 Chivis Martinez  Borderland Beat Reforma

Abigael González Valencia "El Cuini", alleged "financial mastermind" of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), claims that he is a victim of psychological torture and harassment inside the Federal Prison of the Altiplano No 1.

The Michoacán native  sent a letter to the Twelfth District Judge in Amparo of Mexico City, Rosa María Cervantes Mejía, to let her know his situation and ask him to place an order that  prison authorities to stop the alleged harassment.

"He states that he is being held in the Number One Social Readaptation Center, with residence in Almoloya de Juárez, 'Altiplano' State of Mexico, and that he is being the victim of harassment and psychological torture, for which he requests that the prison authorities be ordered they refrain from carrying out said conducts ", says an agreement of the judge.

Although he clarifies that this letter is not a request for protection, Cervantes Mejía issued instructions to the director general of the Altiplano to safeguard the physical integrity of the alleged drug trafficker.

In the agreement published this Friday, the judge warned the official that, if he does not do so or does not report the reasons that prevent him, he will impose a fine of  8,688 pesos.

"In order to ensure respect for the right to physical integrity of the complainant, the director of CEFERESO Number One is required to immediately adopt the necessary measures to safeguard the integrity of Abigael González Valencia, as well as how to refrain from harassing or torturing in any way, "the judge instructed.

The judge added the brief from "El Cuini" to an injunction that she filed last year against the extradition order and that ultimately concluded with a sentence that instructs the Foreign Ministry to reinstate the procedure.

That is why Cervantes Mejía let González Valencia know that she has every right to promote a new protection against acts of torture that he claims to suffer in prison.

The prisoner made the complaint of the harassment three weeks after the Fourth Unitary Court of the State of Mexico denied him the protection with which he sought his return to the North Prison of Mexico City, where he was interned on February 14 to July 27, 2019.

González Valencia was arrested on February 28, 2015 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, based on the provisional arrest warrant for extradition purposes. Since then, he has been imprisoned in the Federal Prisons of Gómez Palacio, Durango, the Altiplano and the North Prison.