Mexico City, September 18, 2024.- Gildardo López Astudillo, known as ‘El Gil’, was indicted by a federal judge in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico, for his alleged participation in organized crime offenses.
According to judicial sources, the charges are not related to the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students, but to acts committed before the events of September 2014 in Iguala, Guerrero.
López Astudillo, considered one of the leaders of the Guerreros Unidos criminal group, was recaptured on September 5 in Mexico City by elements of the Federal Ministerial Police and transferred to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 of Altiplano. This is his second arrest, since in 2015 he was arrested for the first time, accused of acting as a key link between Guerreros Unidos and the former mayor of Iguala, José Luis Abarca, in the Ayotzinapa case.
However, in 2018, a judge dismissed the organized crime charges against López Astudillo and in 2019 he was released, after 81 pieces of evidence were invalidated because they were obtained through torture. Later, in 2020, ‘El Gil’ became a protected witness for the Attorney General’s Office (FGR)giving his testimony about the events in Iguala.
In early 2024, a new arrest warrant was issued against him for organized crime offenses, which was executed after several failed attempts.
