Mayors under scrutiny for links to drug trafficking

Drug trafficking infiltration into municipal governments is one of the greatest threats to security. So far in 2025 , several establishments have been arrested and charged.

The position of municipal presidents, key to the cartels' operations, is a priority target. The allegations are that they control the police, public works contracts, and business regulations, allowing them to expand their illicit activities unchallenged.

The latest case is that of the Morena mayor of Colipa, Veracruz, Gabriela Ortega Molina , who denied this Monday in a message on her social networks, any relationship with organized crime, after during a search carried out by elements of the Mexican Navy and the Army at the Quintero ranch , in this municipality, she was allegedly detained for more than eight hours, according to the local press.

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This information was confirmed by Government Secretary Ricardo Ahued Bardahuil last Friday, when he explained that the operation was carried out to verify and gather information on possible illegal activities.

"She's fine (the mayor), but I don't want to make any statements because the proceedings are currently underway. I don't want to anticipate anything that could undermine the investigation," he said.

However, yesterday, during Governor Rocío Nahle's press conference, he gave a different version. He stated that he met with Gabriela Ortega on Monday morning, who reportedly told him that she was not involved in the search of a ranch in this municipality and that she was not detained.

The ranch is owned by businessman José Gil Quintero, nephew of Rafael Caro Quintero, currently imprisoned in the United States.

In the last year, there have been other cases of municipal presidents accused of their links to drug trafficking.

In early May, José Ascención Murguía Santiago , mayor of Teuchitlán, Jalisco , was arrested by members of the Attorney General's Office (FGR) for his alleged involvement in the training camp of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) found on the Izaguirre ranch .

The organization narcopoliticos.com details on its website that Jesús Corona Damián , the Morena mayor of Cuautla, Morelos , is said to have been investigated by the Attorney General's Office (FGR) for his alleged links to the Sinaloa Cartel . In 2025, a video was published showing him in a meeting with Júpiter Araujo, known as El Barbas , the alleged leader of said criminal organization in Morelos.

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There is also the case of the former mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa Mundo (Fuerza por México), currently a fugitive from justice for the crime of forced disappearance and his alleged relationship with the criminal organization La Familia Michoacana .

Finally, there is the mayor of Coalcomán, Michoacán (MC), Anabel Ávila Castrejón , who in December 2024, asked children to thank the criminal leaders, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes , El Mencho , and Delta 1 , who is the partner of one of the mayor's cousins, for the gifts sent.