In a hearing that lasted approximately six hours, the confrontation and interrogation between the alleged drug trafficker Jesús Héctor Palma Salazar and the protected witness Marcelo Peña García, code name "Julio", took place within the proceedings against the Sinaloan for the murder of a former security chief of the Puente Grande prison.
The hearing, scheduled remotely via videoconference at 10:00 a.m., began shortly before 12:00 p.m. due to logistical issues and tight security measures in the court building annexed to the Jalisco Preventive Prison Commissariat, where the witness appeared under armed protection, while Palma was behind a computer screen from a call center in the maximum security prison of Altiplano, in the State of Mexico.
The point to be clarified in the hearing convened in the Second Court of Criminal and Integral Justice for Adolescents of the First Judicial District of Jalisco (traditional mixed criminal system) was the accusation that the protected witness "Julio" made about Güero Palma, on May 17, 2023, in the sense that it was the prisoner himself who confessed his alleged responsibility in the murder of the subdirector of security of Cefereso 2, Juan Castillo Alonso, a crime that took place on the night of December 3, 2000, in the municipality of Zapopan.
Inside and outside the courthouse there was a large number of security personnel from the State Prosecutor's Office, the Federal Ministerial Police attached to the Criminal Investigation Agency, the National Guard and the military. In the parking lot of Puente Grande, in addition to the regular patrols, there were two armored vehicles in which the witness transferred from Mexico City was guarded.
Through the screen, dressed in his khaki uniform, Jesús Héctor Palma despaired at the delay. He would get up from his chair, take a few steps and sit down again; however, when the hearing began, the inmate was calm. He was virtually face to face with his accuser, who was interrogated by Güero Palma's defense attorney, José Gabriel Martín Hernández Rodríguez, in the presence of the secretary of agreements, who acted as judge by operation of law.
OBJECTIVES
Marcelo Peña García, the "star" witness to keep the accused in prison, at all times boasted about his political familiarity with drug trafficker Joaquín Guzmán Loera, El Chapo, whom he referred to as "my brother-in-law" and in each answer to the questions of Palma's lawyer sought to fix ministerial statements made during 2001 against members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The answers of the witness "Julio" led defense attorney Hernandez to cross-examine on those topics, finding opposition to his questions from the director of Prosecution Follow-up of the Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office, prosecutor Jaime Navarro Hernandez, who argued that "they were induced or biased questions" or "they were already answered in previous statements". This situation led the litigant to complain to the judge.
One of the first questions to Peña García was "How did you see Chapo? Marcelo answered "I saw him as a person of trust in Cefereso number 2. I took care of all his personal and family matters and acted as his private secretary. I had contact with friends and associates of his criminal organization that continued to operate from prison". Prosecutor Navarro interrupted to tell the witness to concentrate on what he was being asked, not to answer more than what he was asked.
After presuming that he was Chapo's messenger and private secretary for whatever he wanted, "Julio" was asked by Güero Palma's lawyer how he entered the Cefereso, and also what name did you have as a protected witness? Despite the fact that his pseudonym or password is public knowledge, Marcelo answered "I can't tell you". For his part, Jaime Navarro told the judge "What makes you think we are going to tell you the name".
After much insistence, Marcelo finally acknowledged that his code name is "Julio". The point was important because in many ministerial declarations and preliminary investigations, "Julio" has been considered a false witness. Then, the question that mattered: How did you find out about the murder of Commander Juan Castillo Alonso and why do you accuse Güero Palma? Peña answered "Look, I used to go to Cefereso 2 a lot, before the corruption started, then there was a lot of corruption...". Prosecutor Navarro repeated to the declarant not to say more than what he was being asked.
Peña García said about the accused's alleged responsibility: "I just greeted Güero by hand when I went to visit El Chapo's family, but we coincided in the dining room with the family visit, because Palma also had a visit. Later there was closeness and friendship. Because of his criminal association, he talked to me, to plan several things, among them the murders of Juan Pablo de Tavira and Juan Castillo.
Attorney José Gabriel Martín Hernández Rodríguez asked: "When you found out about the murder, what did you do? "I informed the bosses of the crimes, I gave them details of what I heard from Güero Palma and everything about how they did it. I told them who they sent, that it was two hitmen from Nuevo Laredo," said Marcelo, who said he was the first to know about the crimes "because the hitmen from Nuevo Laredo had to report to me. Because I was the person who visited Chapo the most. Chapo told me, you have to report to me first.
PROTECTED WITNESS
The lawyer’s inquiry returned to the subject of the protected witness, questioning "Julio" since when did he have this status before the Attorney General's Office (FGR), formerly PGR. Peña García said that he was a protected witness between 2001 and 2002, without remembering the month, because he was arrested in July 2001 and then he was given that protection by law. He added that this year he asked for protection when he testified in "a hearing in the Altiplano or in Pachuca, I don't even remember, but it was this year. At this moment I don't know if I am a protected witness or not, but I had already asked for it.
For this case it is relevant to know the status of "Julio" as a protected witness, it has been said that authorities pay him more than 100,000 pesos per month and have him protected in a bunker in Mexico City. "In 2001 it was proposed to me and I accepted to be a protected witness for my safety and my family, I reaffirmed the links that my brother-in-law El Chapo had with all his illicit businesses and I was afraid", said the man from Compostela, Nayarit.
What was his involvement in those illicit businesses? This was the next question asked to Marcelo Peña, but again the prosecutor Jaime Navarro Hernández objected to the question arguing that the witness had already answered it in another statement. Güero Palma's lawyer replied to the secretary acting as judge, "What was the point of the interrogation if they don't let me ask? "He is the one who is bringing up the issue of criminal association, he is bringing up the issue of protected witness, he is bringing up the issues... How can I not ask?"
Q&A. Why was he arrested? "Well, they were looking for Chapo and since they didn't find him, they arrested me". What were your obligations as a protected witness? "Well, I had to testify everything I knew about my brother-in-law El Chapo's criminal organization. What did this criminal organization do? Jaime Navarro again refuted the questioning.
In the arguments between the prosecutor and the defense, at one point, Peña Garcia wanted to get into the discussion, the court clerk reminded him that he was a witness and had to focus on what the defense was asking him, without intervening in the debates. "Ah well, yes, miss," said Chapo Guzmán's in-law. The ruckus between the lawyer and the Prosecutor's Office official was attended by the judge, who decided to resume the hearing after the abrupt interruption.
At 4:00 p.m., Palma's lawyer asked the witness: Why do you say that my client Jesús Héctor Palma Salazar is the mastermind for the murder of Commander Castillo Alonso? Suddenly, from the other side of the screen, Güero Palma said "I don't know you", addressing Marcelo, who responded violently "I wish you had the balls to admit it. Don't play dumb ass. Have some fortitude. You said it in prison every time I came to visit".
Attorney Jose Gabriel Martin Hernandez asked the judicial authority "Please put order in the court. You are offending my client. And my client has been very polite during the entire hearing and has not offended Mr. Marcelo at any time". The atmosphere became tense in the courtroom and the secretary acting as judge decided to suspend the hearing, which will be resumed according to the agendas of both the court and the Altiplano prison, which could happen in weeks or months.
SEARCH
Jesús Héctor Palma filed an injunction since June against the indictment issued in criminal case 9/2023 for his alleged responsibility in the commission of the crime of aggravated homicide against commander Juan Castillo Alonso. The trial of guarantees continues in the Third District Court of Amparo in Criminal Matters in the State of Jalisco, with residence in Zapopan, where the interested third party, the indirect victim, Juan José Castillo Ochoa, son of the deceased, has been summoned.
The order to summon the heir of the direct victim to the trial was issued in an agreement dated July 10 of this year; however, as of this date, the person has not been located, the amparo judge also ordered an unsuccessful search in the municipalities of Zapopan, Tonala and Tlajomulco de Zuñiga, in Jalisco; Manzanillo, Colima; Nezahualcoyotl, in the State of Mexico; and in Nuevo Leon.
Due to the fact that Castillo's son has not appeared in the amparo proceeding, the federal judge ordered the summons to be served by means of edicts at the expense of the Federal Treasury, "which must contain a brief description of the claim and be published three times, seven days at a time, both in the Official Gazette of the Federation and in one of the most widely circulated newspapers in Mexico, with residence in Mexico City, Once the last publication has been made, the interested third party in question has a term of thirty calendar days to appear in court by himself or through his authorized representative or legal representative".
On the other hand, the legal team of the plaintiff Palma Salazar offered some evidence to refute the accusations made by the protected witness against his client, and requested the district judge to require the federal penitentiary authorities "the interior and exterior security protocols and procedure manuals, whether for visits by relatives or other persons, as well as for the entry of attorneys and defense attorneys; that have been established for the Federal Centers of Social Readaptation, in the period from 2000 to 2001".
Also offered was "the Planimetral Map, also called sketch, of the interior of the disincorporated Federal Center for Social Readaptation number 2, "Occidente". Logbooks for visits (family, friends and defense attorneys) found in the file of the now disincorporated Federal Center for Social Readaptation number 2, "Occidente", in relation to Mr. Marcelo Peña García, from October 2 to 18, 2000".
And finally, "Filling logs for the security elements of the penitentiary center found in the file of the now disincorporated Federal Center for Social Readaptation number 2, "Occidente", which were made from October 2 to 18, 2000, in the areas of social work, access to the communication area where the call centers and family visitation rooms are located, in addition to the logs found at the entrance of dormitory A, which is made up of modules one through four".
The amparo court reserves the right to provide the evidence offered "until such time as the interested third parties are duly summoned, that is to say that the constitutional litis is duly established and to be in a position to provide what is appropriate".
THE HOMICIDE
The murder against the former deputy director of internal security of Cefereso 2, in Puente Grande, Jalisco, was perpetrated on the evening of December 3, 2000 at his home in the Haciendas del Valle neighborhood, in the municipality of Zapopan, when he was resting. Armed men knocked on Juan Castillo Alonso's door, on Hacienda Las Gardenias street, and entered the house to shoot him four times, and he died later at the Cruz Verde Zapopan.
The murderers fled aboard a cab, which had a theft report, a unit that was abandoned in the parking lot of the Plaza San Isidro shopping center, on the highway road of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Zone.
Juan Castillo had served as head of custodians of the federal prison until February of that same year, when he resigned after many years of service in the state prison of Almoloyita, in Cefereso 1 "Altiplano", and in the maximum security prison located in El Salto, Jalisco, where he was always considered an energetic public servant, and upon the arrival of new commanders from Sinaloa, he was removed and preferred to retire.
The crime remained unsolved for 22 years by the Jalisco State Attorney General's Office (now the Prosecutor General's Office). It was the former Attorney General's Office (PGR), through the Specialized Sub-Attorney General's Office for Investigation of Organized Crime (SEIDO), which obtained a testimony that compromised Palma Salazar. The protected witness Marcelo Peña García, with the code name "Julio", was the one who testified that he knew that Güero Palma ordered the murder of Juan Castillo.
Days before the murder of the head warden, the former director of the "Altiplano" prison and former director of the Federal Judicial Police, Juan Pablo de Tavira Noriega, was murdered in a restaurant of the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo, a matter for which Jesús Héctor Palma, who at that time had not been in that federal prison in the State of Mexico, is also being linked. Güero Palma Salazar is currently imprisoned in that Cefereso, in Almoloya de Juárez.
