Former Tlahuapan police chief accused of blocking Mexico-Puebla highway arrested

Elements of the Ministerial Investigation Police arrested Carlos Sánchez “N”, former ejidal commissioner of Santa Rita Tlahuapan, Puebla, and identified as the alleged person responsible for the 90-hour blockade on the Mexico-Puebla highway.

According to information from the National Registry of Arrests (RND), Carlos Sánchez was arrested during the morning of Friday, August 16 in the Sonterra neighborhood of the municipality of Querétaro; after his arrest, he was placed at the disposition of the House of Justice of the Central West region of Puebla, where his legal situation will be resolved.

It is worth remembering that the former commissioner was pointed out by the ejidatarios of Puebla who blocked the highway between August 6 and 10 to demand payment for the lands that were expropriated from them for the construction of the avenue and the Izta-Popo National Park.

After the blockade, the head of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) of Puebla, Gilberto Higuera Bernal, reported that Carlos Sánchez was a fugitive from justice for the alleged failure to pay 176.2 million pesos that the state delegation of the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) had given him to pay the ejidatarios for the expropriated lands.

The investigation by the authorities indicates that the former commissioner of Tlahuapan received a check in 2018 for the payment of the expropriated lands, however, he only gave the funds to 20 of the ejidatarios close to him, causing an impact on about 40 ejidatarios from whom 36 hectares were taken, so they made the decision to block the Mexico-Puebla highway.

The case of the blockade that caused million-dollar damages to transporters escalated to the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who confirmed on the morning of August 8 that the Federal Government would pay the agreed sum to the ejidatarios according to the appraisals made for their lands.

To lift the blockade, which finally ended on August 10, the national leader indicated that they were already in negotiations to reach a legal agreement. A day later, the Secretary of the Interior of Puebla, Javier Aquino Limón, reported that the Mexico-Puebla highway and the Arco Norte had been fully reopened.

“The ejidatarios begin to withdraw and lift their camps that they had set up for 5 days. We reaffirm our commitment to continue the dialogue and the working tables as we have done until today,” said the state official.

Source: infobae