An investigation led by the Mexican Attorney General implicates Francisco Castro Trenti (brother of Fernando Castro Trenti, PRI Candidate for Governor of Baja California) with the Tijuana Cartel.
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| Francisco Castro Trenti. |
El Universal.- Francisco Castro Trenti (Brother of Fernando Castro Trenti, PRI, who is currently running for Governor in Baja California) allegedly collaborated with the Tijuana Cartel during his term as State Director of Criminal Investigations and as Police Chief of Tijuana.
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| Fernando Castro Trenti and then Presidential Candidate Enrique Peña Nieto. |
This was revealed to the Republic´s Attorney General Office (Procuraduria General de la Republica-PGR) by none other than Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, former leader of the Tijuana Cartel. Arellano Felix made these statements on February, 2012 collaborating with the Witness Protection Program under the name of “Howard”.
The former drug lord claimed he paid Castro Trenti (Now Rosarito´s Public Safety Director) up to 20 thousand USD monthly for his services, this according to the investigation by the PGR accessed by El Universal.
Arellano Felix, who is currently serving a life sentence in the US, also mentioned his funding to then PRD Candidate Narciso Agundez in Baja California Sur, Arellano gave Agundez 300 thousand USD and paid for several things ranging from hats to radio ads. Agundez won that election and became the Governor of Baja California Sur, the same state where several CAF members have been arrested by Federal Authorities; even Arellano himself sailed from Baja California Sur when he was arrested by the US Coast Guard.
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| Francisco Javier Arellano Felix aka "El Tigrillo" and Arturo Villarreal Heredia aka "El Nalgon". |
CORRUPTING POWER
On February 8, 2012, Francisco Javier Arellano Felix aka “El Tigrillo” was questioned by PGR agents in San Antonio, Texas, in relation to an investigation by the SEIDO( Attorney General Office Specialized on Investigation of Organized Crime) regarding the operations of the Tijuana Cartel.
During his statement, Arellano Felix revealed the amount of corrupting power of his organization; he gave names of public servants and police chiefs who allegedly worked for him, helping his criminal cells in their day to day activities, Arellano also mentioned the kind of services he received from them and the amount paid by him. On his statement he remembered Castro Trenti worked for him in 2003 when Castro was the State Director of Criminal Investigations.
He mentioned someone by the name of Jorge Eduardo Ronquillo Delgado aka “El Niño”, a former sicario who worked for a Tijuana Cartel lieutenant known as “El Quemado”, killed Alejandro Manjarrez (Personal assistant of then Governor of Baja California, Alejandro Gonzalez Alcocer), and the help he received by Castro Trenti who charged another men with this crime in exchange for more than 200 thousand USD.
Arellano Felix claimed “It was about 2 AM when El Niño was driving out of an Arena in Tijuana, at the same time the personal assistant of the Governor, someone by the name of Manjarrez was driving in another vehicle, they somehow crossed paths and began an argument, El Niño pulled his gun and killed him”.
He continued: “They arrested El Niño after this, and sent him to prison, Ernesto Angulo Hernandez aka “El Quemado” told me he was going to fix El Niño´s problem with help from Saul Montes de Oca aka “El Ciego” since he knew Castro Trenti”, “I asked him how was he going to do it since everything became a big problem, he even was arrested with the gun and gun powder in his hands, and he told me he was going to change the report so the guy who was with El Niño was charged instead of him, he was going to give some money to Castro Trenti for that and I said it was OK, he later confirmed me he gave Castro 20 thousand USD and later another 200 thousand USD, I remember the process took about 2 or 3 months and then he got out”, “Castro Trenti was later named Police Chief in Tijuana, this was before Zatarain, when he was the Director of the Police he was contacted by “El Ciego”, who changed the zone commanders, he also told him when someone of our men was arrested so he could be freed, and for this we paid him via “El Ciego” 20 thousand USD monthly, I remember his time was short as Director”.
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| Saul Montes de Oca aka "El Ciego" at the moment of his capture in the famous Baja 1000 race. |
CAMPAIGN FINANCING
“Howard” stated: “I also remember the year 2005, Arturo Villarreal Heredia aka “El Nalgon”, via his friend Julio Cordero who sometimes also hanged with me, one time he was with me in La Paz, Baja California Sur and we met with the candidate Agundez, who was candidate of PRD, Julio stepped down so I could see he knew him, he greeted the candidate”, “He later told me the candidate asked if we could give him some money for his campaign, and I told him I had no problem with it, I sent him 300 thousand USD with Julio Cordero; I also gave money to Cordero so he could send the candidate Agundez some propaganda”, “Agundez later won the election, I don´t remember if it was for Governor or Mayor, but we began to have contact with the Police Chief”.
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| Narciso Agundez and former Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. |