The Fiscal\u00eda General de la Rep\u00fablica (FGR), led by Ernestina Godoy, is preparing to file criminal charges against Durango\u2019s governor, Esteban Villegas, a member of the PRI party. According to sources familiar with the investigation who spoke to La Silla Rota, the accusations involve Villegas\u2019s administration allegedly protecting narcotics operations linked to the group \u201cLos Cabrera,\u201d an offshoot of the Sinaloa cartel faction known as \u201cLa Mayiza.\u201d<\/p>\n
The investigation centers on the protection allegedly extended to Ismael Zambada Sicairos, aka \u201cEl Mayito Flaco,\u201d who is considered the presumed successor to Ismael \u201cMayo\u201d Zambada, currently facing legal proceedings in the United States. Following Mayo Zambada\u2019s arrest in July 2024, violent clashes between \u201cLos Cabrera\u201d and the rival faction \u201cLos Chapitos,\u201d led by Joaqu\u00edn \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzm\u00e1n\u2019s sons, intensified in Durango.<\/p>\n
Esteban Villegas Villarreal, 50, has been governor since September 2022, after winning the election in a coalition with the National Action Party (PAN) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Before this, he served as mayor of Durango\u2019s capital city, state health secretary, and twice as a local congressman.<\/p>\n
Sources indicate that Villegas is aware of the FGR\u2019s case file, which also implicates other state officials, including the state attorney general Sonia Yadira de la Garza. A member of her inner circle is reportedly the liaison between the local prosecutor\u2019s office and Zambada Sicairos.<\/p>\n
The governor has reportedly confided in close collaborators about the imminent FGR actions targeting several members of the state government. At least one of those informed has already left Durango.<\/p>\n
The same anonymous sources told La Silla Rota that \u201cEl Mayito Flaco\u201d has also left the state, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.<\/p>\n
If the FGR proceeds with charges against Governor Villegas and his close associates, he would become the second sitting governor facing criminal accusations, alongside Morena\u2019s Rub\u00e9n Rocha Moya, who is currently on leave in Sinaloa.<\/p>\n
This development highlights ongoing challenges in Mexico\u2019s fight against organized crime and the complex entanglement of political figures with narcotrafficking networks. For migrants and residents alike, understanding these dynamics is key to grasping the broader social and political landscape shaping security and governance in Mexico today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Fiscal\u00eda General de la Rep\u00fablica (FGR), led by Ernestina Godoy, is preparing to file criminal charges against Durango\u2019s governor, Esteban Villegas, a member of the PRI party. According to sources familiar with the investigation who spoke to La Silla Rota, the accusations involve Villegas\u2019s administration allegedly protecting narcotics operations linked to the group \u201cLos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nacional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}