The government of Mexico announced that a member of the country’s National Guard, who published a video last week claiming his bosses and colleagues were working with local drug cartels, was found dead along with two other victims.
The incident took place in the coastal state of Guerrero, where National Guardsman Eduardo Perez Bustos published a video in which he identifies himself and revealed that many of his colleagues there worked for a local cartel known as Los Tlacos. In the video, Perez Bustos claimed the troops were paid about $100,000 pesos (roughly $5,900 USD) every two weeks to investigate and take action against a rival organization known as Los Ardillos that was trying to take over parts of rural Guerrero.
In the video, Perez Bustos identified by name several of the National Guard troops that were working for the cartel. He also said authorities at the local and state levels were complicit.
Just days after the video went viral in Mexico, Mexico’s National Defense Secretariat issued a statement confirming that Perez Bustos was one of three murder victims found near the town of Plan de Lima in the state of Guerrero. In their statement, the Mexican military claimed to have deployed troops to track down the individuals responsible for the killing. The statement also listed a series of prior arrests by the Mexican military targeting Los Tlacos, Los Ardillos, and another group called Los Rusos. The statement made no direct mention of the alleged corruption described by the now-deceased soldier.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.