Eduardo Ochoa Arias, a banana businessman from Colima whose body was identified Tuesday afternoon, was a victim of extortion by criminal groups affiliated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), who demanded up to 600,000 pesos a month from him.
Ochoa Arias disappeared on March 13, and his body was found on March 21 on Boca de Apiza beach in the municipality of Coahuayana, Michoacán. However, due to the condition of the body, his identity was not confirmed until Tuesday.
Reports indicate that the executive of Ochoa Products was intercepted by CJNG gunmen in the town of Cerro de Ortega, in the municipality of Tecomán, Colima, where he was kidnapped.
Given the authorities’ inefficiency in locating him, on Friday, March 20, family and friends called for protests to block Highway 200, the Lázaro Cárdenas-Manzanillo road, demanding his safe return. However, they decided to hold the protest without disrupting traffic and gathered with banners and signs at the entrance to the municipal seat.
A day later, Ochoa Arias’s body was found on the shore of Boca de Apiza Beach, where it is presumed the criminals transported and abandoned the body.
Reports indicate that the body had a gunshot wound to the chest, was bound and wrapped in plastic, on a mattress, and tied with a hammock. After being taken to the Forensic Medical Service, he was identified by his family, and his body was transported to Colima, his home state.
Cerro de Ortega, in the municipality of Tecomán, is an area controlled by a cell of the CJNG cartel dedicated to kidnapping and extortion of businesses and the agricultural sector, despite the presence of federal forces who maintain a checkpoint and base no more than a kilometer from where the businessman was abducted.
Security sources in that region of the Sierra-Costa informed EL UNIVERSAL that Ochoa Arias was being extorted by the CJNG, which demanded 150,000 pesos per week (600,000 pesos per month) for his banana production.
“But there are those who were paying up to one million pesos per month for production and packing, in addition to charging the foremen [leaders of the harvesting and loading crews] 8,000 pesos per day,” the sources revealed.
They specified that the CJNG (Jalisco New Generation Cartel) charges another criminal tax for the right of passage of trucks through its territory, up to one peso per kilogram transported. Therefore, a truck carrying loads of up to 28 tons must pay the criminal organization an extortion fee of up to 28,000 pesos per unit.
Federal security agencies have identified Gustavo Arceo, alias “Tavo,” and Ramón Margarito Larios Quiroz, alias “El Papo Larios,” as those responsible for collecting extortion payments and as operatives for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in that border region between Colima and Michoacán.
The car bomb attack carried out on December 6 outside the facilities of the Coahuayana Community Police Command, located next to the Municipal Hall, originated in the Tecomán region, which borders the state of Michoacán.
That attack, for which the CJNG cartel is being held responsible, left community police officers dead, as well as the two occupants of the vehicle that exploded.
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Following the confirmation of the death of the director of Ochoa Products, banana producers in the region expressed their condolences to the Ochoa Arias family by publishing obituaries, and some, such as Coliman Bananas-Grupo AGGALL, demanded that the authorities clarify the facts.
“We respectfully call upon the authorities to clarify this regrettable event, trusting that justice will be served. We hope that peace and tranquility will soon return to the state of Colima and to our entire community,” the company stated.
Source: eluniversal
