Javier Corral’s arrest was obstructed by “men dressed in black with long weapons,” says Chihuahua prosecutor

Javier Corral Jurado is accused in Chihuahua of corruption and embezzlement. (VICTORIA VALTIERRA / CUARTOSCURO)

In response to the message provided by the Attorney General’s Office of Mexico City (FGJCDMX), the anti-corruption prosecutor of Chihuahua, Abelardo Valenzuela, insisted that the interruption in the operation to capture Javier Corral Jurado in the capital of the country was an obstruction.

“It’s not a rescue, it was an impediment […] “Heroes are rescued, not those who are accused of corruption,” said prosecutor Valenzuela, confirming that the institution under his charge declared former governor Corral Jurado a fugitive from justice.

During a press conference, the head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Chihuahua shared a version that contradicts the narrative previously presented by the head of the FGJCDMX office, Ulises Lara López.

According to the capital official, the document with which Chihuahua Investigation agents intended to arrest Javier Corral was an internal document, which did not formally accredit cooperation from the CDMX Prosecutor’s Office in the proceeding. In the words of Abelardo Valenzuela, the document has the same characteristics as other warrants previously fulfilled in CDMX.

Abelardo Valenzuela, anti-corruption prosecutor of the state of Chihuahua. (Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Chihuahua)

Two weeks earlier, on July 27, elements of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of that state arrested a businessman in the capital accused of using false documentation to obtain contracts worth more than 41 million pesos. “We followed the same protocol,” said the Chihuahua official.

However, in the case of Javier Corral, it was at the place where the arrest was to be carried out that Ulises Lara refused the cooperation of his agents. “Suddenly the person in charge of the office arrives and verbally says that he does not decide to cooperate and takes the accused away,” Valenzuela said.

The former governor of Chihuahua was having dinner at a restaurant in the Roma neighborhood on the night of August 14 when he was approached by a group of officers, who identified themselves as members of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of that entity, with the intention of arresting him.

The version narrated by Valenzuela states that, in previous intelligence work, they realized that Javier Corral was usually accompanied by an escort, possibly made up of members of the extinct Presidential General Staff. “The vehicles they carry are federal vehicles.” […] There were six elements, which surrounded the now accused,” he explained.

When the delegation in charge of carrying out the arrest — made up of the deputy anti-corruption prosecutor, the private secretary, a public prosecutor and two ministerial agents — approached Corral, they read him his rights and allowed him to use a cell phone to make any necessary phone calls.

Corral Jurado’s team allegedly contacted Ulises Lara López during the operation. (X/@Javier_Corral/@UlisesLaraLopez)

“He doesn’t know who he called, we don’t know who he called, but it didn’t take 15 minutes for the restaurant to be completely surrounded and it was impossible for us to calmly execute an arrest warrant,” Valenzuela said. Ulises Lara López acknowledged, in a previous message, that he was the one who received a call from the former governor’s team.

After Corral made those calls, diners at the restaurant began recording videos and a large number of neighbors came to the place, according to the Chihuahua prosecutor.

Later, “many armed people began to arrive, we don’t know which corporation they were from, people dressed in black with long weapons, they didn’t have identification on the back, they only wore black tactical uniforms and long weapons,” Valenzuela said.

Finally, the public servant described the participation of the Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office as something unprecedented and warned that they will go against Javier Corral “wherever he is, to the last consequences, in the terms established by law.”