One year after the murder of Hipólito Mora, impunity prevails

MORELIA, Mich. (apro).- One year after the murder of farmer Hipólito Mora Chávez, one of the founders of the self-defense groups in the state, impunity prevails in this case, since the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Michoacán (FGE) “has not “No investigation has been done, there is no progress,” denounced Guadalupe Mora Chávez, the victim’s brother.

After suffering several attacks, on June 29, 2023—a decade after the uprising of the inhabitants of La Ruana against the criminal groups that kept the population subjugated—Hipolito Mora and his bodyguards were ambushed in that community by dozens of gunmen who used weapons that pierced the armor of the truck in which they were traveling.

In a telephone interview with ProcessGuadalupe Mora complained that the FGE has not fulfilled its obligation to seek justice for her brother and the murdered bodyguards, because despite the number of hitmen participating in the attack, to date only two of them are detained, Bryan “N” and Rogelio “N”, but this happened thanks to the intervention of the Army.

Likewise, he blamed the head of the Executive Branch, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, for the murder, since “there are many omissions.”

Before the attack, Guadalupe Mora added, “my brother had told me that the governor agreed to have him killed, he already suspected something about him, and apparently that was the case because on the day of the events there was no police of any kind in the area. La Ruana; Although there was a base of operations, that day everyone left with the full intention of going in to kill him.”

Hipólito Mora, who had laid down his arms and in 2021 was a candidate for the governorship of Michoacán for the Partido Encuentro Social (PES), made frequent public complaints and demanded the intervention of the authorities due to the recurring extortions carried out by criminal groups against producers and residents of La Ruana, a community belonging to the municipality of Buenavista, in the Tierra Caliente region.

After he was murdered, his brother said, the criminal groups operating in the region have attacked the community with drones loaded with explosives, which has caused injuries to several locals and “the town is already scared by so many drone strikes and shootings.” .

Guadalupe Mora pointed out that on the occasion of the first death anniversary of the former self-defense leader, in the morning a tribute was held in the city of Morelia and in the afternoon a mass was celebrated in the cathedral of that capital.

During his speech at the tribute, Mora demanded justice and warned that he will continue his fight “no matter what” so that the crime is clarified, although he said he was aware that he could suffer the same fate.

“The Prosecutor’s Office has not given us the support we are asking for,” he said at the mourning event; That’s why I put all the blame on the governor here in Michoacán”, because on the day of the events “I know that the elements of the Base of Operations left so that they could go in to assassinate my brother; I saw that they were not there in La Ruana, they arrived when he was dead.”