Sinaloa Cartel Operator 'El Cumbias' Absolved of 2010 Chihuahua Massacre and Released From Prison

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

Enrique López Acosta (left) was said to have been involved in the notorious 2010 massacre in Creel, Chihuahua that left at least 8 people dead. The video, captured through a surveillance camera, made international headlines 13 years ago

Enrique Lopez Acosta, also known by the alias El Cumbias, was freed from a prison in Chihuahua during the early hours of Friday after state judges acquitted him of the eight murder charges he was facing in relation to the 2010 massacre in Creel, Chihuahua.

El Cumbias was a ring leader of the Gente Nueva faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and had been incarcerated since December 2010 following his arrest in Delicias, Chihuahua. He spent the first years of his imprisonment in the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 11 in Sonora, until he was extradited to Chihuahua in 2018. His trial begun less than a month ago.

The names of the judges who absolved El Cumbias are: Zulema Sandoval, Erick Nevarez, and Mariano Durazo.

El Cumbias was facing a prison term of up to 200 years if he had been convicted for the eight killings linked to the 2010 Creel massacre.

In the days leading up to the judges' verdict, the legal team representing El Cumbias had submitted a formal request to the court, urging them to prevent any media outlets from having presence at their client's trial. All three judges granted this request, resulting in the absence of any media during the concluding phases of the trial.

The court did not publicly elaborate on the rationale behind El Cumbias's release. However, El Diario de Juárez alluded to the possibility that the judges' decision might have stemmed from their belief that the video recordings of the massacre were inadequate in establishing concrete evidence linking El Cumbias as one of the participants in the video.

The State Attorney General's Office has confirmed the existence of another individual who is allegedly responsible for the multiple homicides. However, this person is imprisoned out of state and authorities opted to keep their identity confidential and did not provide any details regarding their current legal status.

To this day, no individuals have been been found guilty of the Creel massacre, marking 13 years of impunity.

The massacre

The Creel massacre, which occurred on 15 March 2010, reached national and international headlines after a surveillance camera captured El Cumbias and his gunmen carrying out a commando-style attack in broad daylight.

The video demonstrates a step by step footage in which armed assassins boldly seize control of Creel. They barricade streets, forcibly remove drivers from their cars, and carry out killings without hesitation.

The initial broadcast of the video occurred on the show Punta y Partida, hosted by Denise Maerker in Mexico City on the Televisa network. Introducing the footage captured on March 15, Maerker remarked that the video speaks for itself. Subsequently, the video gained widespread popularity.

The video displayed a convoy of vehicles that arrived while armed men swarmed the town. At a certain moment, the camera focused on a grey SUV, where a man extracted a bag of white powder. This man was observed sharing the substance with several of the hit men and snorting handfuls of it himself.

Wanted bulletin picturing El Cumbias and other sicarios; the picture on the bottom left shows him inside the vehicle. The judges did not agree this was El Cumbias and deemed the video evidence "insufficient" 

The gunmen then commenced their activities, establishing checkpoints, removing drivers from their vehicles, and frisking them for weapons. Another group surrounded a spacious house, forcefully entering through the door. The flash of gunfire became visible at the entrance.

Allegedly, this residence belonged to a businessman and his family. State authorities claimed that they were not aware of the precise count of casualties that occurred on that day.

According to local media reports, the hit men fatally shot nine individuals and wounded six, among them a 12-year-old girl. At least eight (8) people were confirmed dead, including an 18-year-old lady.

The state authorities initially refrained from specifying which cartel was responsible for the attacks, but it was later confirmed to be Gente Nueva, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Sources: Diario de Juarez (1); (2); (3); (4); (5); (6); (7); (8); Borderland Beat archives