The Court refuses to analyze Tomás Zenón's appeal in the Ayotzinapa case.
The Court refuses to analyze Tomás Zenón's appeal in the Ayotzinapa case.
Ivan Evair Saldaña and Cesar Arellano
La Jornada Newspaper, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, p. 8
The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) rejected the appeal filed by Tomás Zerón de Lucio, former director of the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC), seeking to annul the arrest warrant issued against him in April 2021 for various crimes related to the disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, in 2014.
The agreement, signed on June 13 by the presiding judge of the chamber, Loretta Ortiz Ahlf, was published in the court dockets. It instructs the court to return the case to the first collegiate criminal court in Mexico City for its resolution. The Court's reasons for the decision were not made public.
This court had requested in August 2023 that the SCJN reassume jurisdiction to review the amparo appeal, because Zerón – currently a fugitive in Israel – challenged the constitutionality of Article 141 of the National Code of Criminal Procedure (CNPP), which served as the basis for the arrest warrant issued on April 23, 2021, for the crimes of forced disappearance, coalition of public servants, and torture against Felipe Rodríguez Salgado, an alleged member of Guerreros Unidos implicated in the Ayotzinapa case.
Zerón argues that the arrest warrant was issued improperly because the Attorney General's Office (FGR) failed to summon him in advance, preventing him from exercising his right to defense. He also argues that there is insufficient evidence to support the accusation of torture against Rodríguez Salgado.
According to the case file, Zerón alleges that the psychological report specializing in torture cases did not conclude that the injuries and harm were caused by Federal Police officers during the arrest. Furthermore, he maintains that the threats cited are insufficient to prove the crime.
The arrest warrant was issued by Control Judge Felipe de Jesús Delgadillo Padierna, of the Federal Criminal Justice Center at the Reclusorio Sur, within criminal case 148/2021, and was confirmed on November 17, 2022, by Judge Luz María Ortega Tlapa, head of the Eighth District Court for Criminal Matters.
Dissatisfied, Zerón filed the appeal for review 48/2023, which was heard by the first collegiate court in criminal matters of the first circuit, which asked the Court to resolve the matter, considering that it involved a relevant constitutional issue.
Man arrested with 172,000 fentanyl pills prosecuted
From the Editorial Staff
La Jornada Newspaper, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, p. 8
A federal judge in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, charged Luis Manuel Contreras, who was arrested in possession of 172,070 fentanyl pills and a bag containing 726.7 grams of methamphetamine.
The Attorney General's Office, through the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, reported yesterday that the arrest was made by agents of the State Investigation Agency after receiving a report of suspicious activity related to a vehicle in the El Pensamiento neighborhood. A search of the vehicle revealed the drugs.
With the evidence presented by the federal Public Prosecutor's Office, the judge determined that there were sufficient elements to initiate criminal proceedings against Contreras for his probable responsibility in crimes against public health, specifically for the possession of fentanyl and methamphetamine for sale.
The judge issued an official pretrial detention order and set a two-month deadline for further investigation.
Drugs worth more than 2.9 billion pesos were seized over the weekend.
Ivan Evair Saldaña and Cesar Arellano
La Jornada Newspaper, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, p. 8
In a series of operations carried out last weekend, federal and state forces seized more than 1,266 kilos of methamphetamine, 3,500 kilos of marijuana, heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, weapons, and vehicles. The blow to organized crime finances is estimated at more than 2.925 billion pesos.
The biggest blow occurred in Puebla, where a clandestine laboratory was dismantled in Acajete. The National Guard, the Army, and state police caused an estimated loss of 2.505 billion pesos to criminal groups.
Another operation was carried out in Sinaloa, where nearly 235 million pesos were lost to organized crime.
The remaining anti-drug operations took place in Tijuana, Baja California; Chihuahua; Baja California Sur; Sonora; Piedras Negras, Coahuila; and the Tlalpan district of Mexico City.
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