The Murder of Marisela Escobedo
2010-12-20
Posted by: badanov
by Chris Covert
The murder of a personal justice advocate seems to have enraged local Juarez, Chihuahua citizens and the press even in the most violent city in the world.
But subsequent events immediately following the shooting of Marisel Escobedo in Chihuahua city Friday night has placed the murder in a different perspective than many other killings in the state.
Whomever wanted Ms. Escodeo and her daughter dead appear to be going for nothing more and nothing less that to entirely wipe out her entire family from existence.
Since this writer is coming to the Mexican Drug War late and at what appears to be a critical juncture, personal perspective may color the facts but it will not change them.
Rubi Marisol Freyre Escobedo disappeared in August, 2008 and the blame went to her husband, Rafael Barraza Sergio Bocanegra. In January, 2009 Marisela filed a complain against Sergio Bocanegra, who had also disappeared.
Through Marisela's efforts Sergio Bocanegra was traced to Fresnillo, Zacatecas. Sergio Bocanegra was turned over to the authorities on June 16th, 2009. The trial in Juarez concluded in May, 2010.
According to reports Sergio Bocanegra confessed to abusing his wife and to murder, and despite the evidence provided by Marisel and others, including statements from others about the abuse Rubi suffered, his statements were considered the by the presiding judges insufficient to convict.
In the view of Marisela Escobedo the courts had enough evidence to sentence Sergio Bocanegra to life imprisonment, but despite that and after spending nearly a year in prison, he was paroled.
Current sources do not say what Marisela did in the intervening time between the time Sergio Bocanegra was released and her own murder, but it can be assumed she spent her time appealing to the state government of Chihuahua to bring her daughter's killer to justice.
That quest ended last Friday when an unidentified assailant pursued Marisela in front of a government building in Chihuahua, chased her across a street and then shot her once in the head.
Since that moment events have transpired, both legal and criminal which have placed the shooting in a much different context.
Later that night a Chihuahua state lawyer, Jorge Gonzalez, at a Christmas dinner hosted by Chihuahua governor Cesar Duarte, told guests details of the murder in an impromptu conference.
The shooter had been smoking a cigarette prior to the shooting and that was the only piece physical evidence tying the shooter to the crime and that investigators were hoping to extract DNA evidence from the butt. That words were exchanged between Marisela and her killer just before she fled in panic just before she was shot.
And finally, Gonzalez said that officials tried to detain Sergio Bocanegra in Zacatecas last July just after his release but officers who were charged with detaining him were surrounded and removed from the state at gunpoint.
Gonzalez also hinted that Sergio Bocanegra was under the protection of organized crime. Other published sources quoted Marisela as saying it was Los Zetas Sergio Bocanegra was tied to, and who was protecting.
Also Friday night Carlos Salas, attorney general of Chihuahua state, told reporters he would request assistance from the Mexican national attorney general's office, Procuradora de la Republica (PGR).
Just prior to the shooting the president of the Chihuahua state legislature, Enrique Serrano, said that he would file for impeachment of the judges in the trial of Sergio Bocanegra: Zahualcoyotl Zuniga Vazquez, Rafael Boudib and Catalina Ochoa Contreras.
Friday morning armed suspects came to Maderas and Materiales Monge, on calles Oscar Flores and Sierra Madre del Sur a lumber yard owned by Jose Monje Marroquin, Marisela's husband, doused the place with gasoline and burned it to the ground.
The suspects also kidnapped Arturo Monje Marroquin, 37, Marisela's brother in law. He was found the next day dead from strangulation.
Chihuahua state legal authorities said late Sunday night the arson of the lumber yard and the abduction had nothing to do with the activities of Marisela Escobedo.
Reports published Saturday said escorts of the funeral procession of Marisela, including Chihuahua state police, were threatened.
Justice has not been served in this case at any level. Even with the intervention of Mexican national authorities, the family of Marisela is in grave danger of being totally wiped out of existence. It is likely whomever planned and executed these crimes won't be stopped.
A demonstration is planned for Wednesday in Wednesday to call Marisela's murder a state crime. Many drug and gang related crimes are committed in Chihuahua state daily which can be called normal organized crime business.
What separates these series of crimes is the terror aspect.
Even in no official involvement is this sordid tale can be found this series of events can be called terrorism and that is the province of Mexican public officials.