Former Acapulco advisor possibly linked to opposition leader's murder, rights group says

An extortion network, allegedly led by a former advisor to the Acapulco city government, may be implicated in the murder of Marco Antonio Suástegui Muñoz, a prominent opposition leader. Abel Barrera Hernández, director of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, stated that extortion was a key line of investigation in Suástegui Muñoz's death.

Suástegui Muñoz had reportedly denounced the extortion ring and attempted to resist paying increased demands. According to Barrera Hernández, when the group's demands became unmanageable, Suástegui Muñoz organized with other service providers to confront the extortionists. Their refusal to comply further reportedly led to a situation of conflict, with no intervention from authorities.

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Marco denounced the extortion network, he tried to avoid paying the extortion, but seeing that it was already a large group, he had no choice but to pay; what he didn't like was when they imposed a higher payment.

Jesús Zamora Cervantes, the former advisor, was arrested early Wednesday in Acapulco along with ten other individuals. They are accused of belonging to a criminal network extorting tourist service providers along the Costera Miguel Alemán, according to Omar García Harfuch, the Secretary of Public Security and Citizen Protection. Seven of the eleven detainees had existing arrest warrants for organized crime offenses.

Barrera Hernández noted the potential connection, as authorities claim this network operated across most of Acapulco's beaches. He expressed concern that the prosecutor's office had not yet acted on arrest warrants for those believed to be directly involved in Suástegui Muñoz's murder, suggesting the arrested group might be the same one that extorted and threatened the victim.

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The material perpetrators of Marcos' murder are supposed to be part of this network (led by Zamora Cervantes) and we see that the prosecutor's office does not act and does not execute the arrest warrants.