06/17/11 – Mexican authorities announced today the arrest of Édgar Huerta Montiel, alias “El Wache,” the alleged organizer of the Zetas branch that planned and carried out the murder of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas. Huerta Montiel was arrested on June 16 in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, a city in the northern part of the state. The police also detained “El Wache’s” girlfriend, Brenda Infante Acevedo, and seized an AK-47 rifle.
Huerta Montiel admitted that he organized the kidnapping of two trucks smuggling Central American migrants in August 2010. According to his statement, he “murdered at least 1o of the kidnapped migrants and ordered the kidnapping of 6 buses carrying passengers in San Fernando in Tamaulipas.” He went into detail by saying that once the migrants were kidnapped they were taken to security houses where they were tortured for information and interrogated about their involvement with the Gulf Cartel- a rival of the Zetas. He also went on to admit that the bodies from the kidnapping were deposited into mass graves in Tamaulipas, which were discovered last August.
Huerta Montiel is 22 years old and originates from the state of Michoacán. He is said to be the “right hand man” of Salvador Alfonso Martínez Escobedo, the boss of Los Zetas in Tamaulipas.
Sources:
“Cayó presunto autor de la matanza de Tamaulipas.” Univision. June 17, 2011.
