Ariadna Montiel's Meeting with El Guano

“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat 

Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos stated in an interview with journalist Carlos Loret that a senior Morena official, Ariadna Montiel, has ties to organized crime—a claim she says she raised during a meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum.

“Ariadna Montiel has a lot to explain and a lot to say regarding organized crime and these terrorist groups in the state of Chihuahua—specifically in Guadalupe y Calvo, in the Sierra Tarahumara, and in the municipality of Morelos, where a (drug) laboratory was recently dismantled. The mayor there is also from Morena,” Campos said.

According to security sources consulted by the columnist, this information stems from a federal report indicating that in early 2024—during the administration of former President AMLO—Montiel met in Guadalupe y Calvo with Aureliano Guzmán, known as “El Guano,” the brother of the notorious drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera.

The reports suggest that, during this meeting, an agreement was reached for the criminal group operating under “El Guano” in Chihuahua—known as “Los Salgueiro”—to intervene in that year’s elections by supporting Morena candidates, most of whom are linked to the criminal organization known as “La Línea.”

In exchange, “El Guano’s” associates would be permitted to maintain control over the territory stretching from La Tuna, in Sinaloa, to Moris, in Chihuahua.

The sources indicate that the directive given to “Los Guanos” was to shift their support away from their usual candidates and toward those from the Morena political party—specifically, to abandon Julio César Chávez Ponce (“El Chacho”) and instead back the current mayor, Ana Laura González Ábrego. According to reports, La Línea allegedly operated in Chihuahua in collusion with the mayor of Ciudad Juárez, Cruz Pérez Cuéllar—currently a Morena candidate for state governor—as well as with César Jáuregui, now labeled a “traitor to the homeland.” Jáuregui, who served as state prosecutor and was at one point a PAN candidate for mayor of the city of Chihuahua, is accused by these same sources of securing the release of members of that criminal group by intentionally mishandling case files—a practice for which payments of up to 10 million pesos were reportedly collected.

It was based on these reports, sources say, that Governor Campos leveled controversial accusations against the national president of Morena during a recent round of media interviews.

One high-level security source consulted for this column indicates that Juan Carlos Loera—the former federal delegate for development programs in Chihuahua—was even present at the meeting with “El Guano.” Loera, who previously had a falling out with Montiel (stating that he no longer even answers his phone calls), recently dismissed Campos’s statements as “slander and infamy.”

The political crisis triggered by the Chihuahua governor’s claims prompted a collective response from 24 governors affiliated with the Morena party. They attributed these "reckless accusations—intended to tarnish the honor of those who serve the nation"—to "frustration and political differences," and urged their colleagues to "continue moving forward with their heads held high."

Among the signatories are the governors of Baja California (Marina del Pilar Ávila), Guerrero (Evelyn Salgado), Michoacán (Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla), Tamaulipas (Américo Villarreal), Sonora (Alfonso Durazo), Zacatecas (David Monreal), Veracruz (Rocío Nahle), Campeche (Layda Sansores), Baja California Sur (Víctor Manuel Castro), and San Luis Potosí (José Ricardo Gallardo), among others.

Ariadna Montiel has acknowledged that during her time as a federal deputy—she was the first to leave the PRD to join Morena—and prior to the 2018 elections, Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked her to "focus on the northern part of the country, especially the Sierra Tarahumara." She lived there for two years, paving the way for Morena’s electoral growth in the region.

Following AMLO’s victory, she joined the administration as Undersecretary of Welfare, tasked with managing social programs. Later, upon the departure of Javier May, she was promoted to lead the secretariat—a position she eventually took over fully, succeeding Luisa Alcalde. Former Morena congresswoman Inés Parra intends to file a complaint against her with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, alleging the diversion of 6 billion pesos.

Montiel is also alleged to have purchased—for a mere 99,000 pesos—a vast tract of land in Bocoyna (measuring 428,280 square meters; property record: 1864397) from Rafael Mata Márquez, the sub-delegate for the Secretariat of Welfare in Chihuahua.

Federal sources documented her alleged meeting and agreements with "El Guano." It is these same sources that prompted Campos to level the controversial accusation against her.

Ariadna Montiel

Source: El Universal