Veracruz judicial case of businesswoman Marlen Esmeralda Esquivel Ríos, Digi Mart USA News (Veracruz, Mexico): A column published by La Razón de México argues that changes to the justice system, at both the federal and state levels, are deeply troubling, citing the case of a businessman couple who were threatened and one of whom served more than four and a half years in prison.
The column states that about four years ago in Veracruz, under the state government led by Rocío Nahle, there is severe distrust of the state prosecutor’s office, which it says acts and convicts without presenting the corresponding evidence. It describes the case of businesswoman Marlen Esmeralda Esquivel Ríos, who was required to serve a sentence of four years and three months after, according to the column, prosecutors changed her status from complainant to suspect.
According to the column, in February of this year three magistrates reviewed her case in depth and granted her an acquittal. The column reports that the state’s Disciplinary Tribunal then suspended the presiding magistrate, Jonatan Cortés Nargas, a move the author describes as a veiled warning to his two colleagues, Marco Antonio Lezama and Dennise de Los Ángeles, who issued the ruling.
Both belong to the Superior Court of Justice of Veracruz.
The column further reports that, to prevent her from remaining free, the case was challenged through an amparo filed before federal magistrate Saire Cecilia Flores Reyes seeking to revoke the ruling. Marlen Esquivel and her husband, Juan Martínez Osorio, have reportedly taken the matter to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, asking its president, Hugo Aguilar, to take up the case due to alleged irregularities and the presumed fabrication of charges.
The column explains that the case began with the theft of a truck owned by her company, Asgrow-Fertivel, a distributor of fertilizers and agricultural products, which she and her husband reported to authorities. The column says the driver’s life was reportedly at risk and that he could not be located.
After the person who stole the truck was found dead days later, his relatives reportedly blamed Esquivel as the intellectual author. According to the column, the case file lacks evidence, and call records show calls from the thief’s own family members asking Esquivel for a reward for the truck.
The column also reports that another man turned himself in as the material author because of his closeness to the deceased thief. He was released after a year due to lack of proof of his responsibility.
In his statement, he reportedly said he had never seen or known Esquivel, although the prosecution file alleged she had ordered his execution.
The column concludes that pressure against judges in Veracruz makes impartial rulings difficult and claims that Governor Rocío Nahle has created an atmosphere of fear among courts and has intervened in the matter by backing the suspension of the judge who freed the complainant. These are the opinions of the column’s author, and the account has not been independently verified.
