The authorities of Mexico have carried out a major arrest when they set up an international man's hunting to capture a former security official accused of collusion with organized crime, but the time of the investigation raises questions on the reasons why the government only acts, three years after the allegations have emerged.
Mexican officials asked Interpol's support to arrest Hernán Bermúdez Requena, who was secretary of public security in Tabasco State between 2019 and 2024, according to a recent radio interview. It is sought after for illicit association, extortion and removal. As of July 24, a red opinion for Bermúdez had not yet been published on the interpol portal, although all these opinions are not made public.
Bermúdez is accused of having directed a faction of the new generation of Jalisco Cartel (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – Cjng) called the Barredora during his time as a head of security in Tabasco, the bastion of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his coalition in power Morena.
While Bermúdez remains a fugitive, the federal authorities arrested his alleged second commander, a former federal police officer named Ulises Pinto Madera, on July 23 in the state of Jalisco for his alleged implication in the extortion, the removal, drug trafficking and fuel theft.
As the head of security, Bermúdez's mandate was marked by an increase in violence linked to organized crime in the formerly questionable state. In early January 2024, Bermúdez resigned from his post following a wave of theft and attacks against companies in the capital of the state of Villahermosa, as well as the roadblocks set up by armed groups.
See also: Does Mexico feed a gang war by sending migrants to Tabasco?
A week earlier, rival armed commandos clashed in several shootings and burned more than a dozen vehicles in Villahermosa, while the prisoners tried to stage a riot inside the Maximum Safety Huimanguillo prison. In Tabasco, the CJNG, the Sinaloa cartel and other local criminal cells have benefited from a myriad of illegal savings, including oil theft, kidnapping, drug trafficking and smuggling and extortion of migrants.
Shortly after his resignation, security officials said Bermúdez had fled Mexico de Mérida, from Yucatán to the Panama and then in Spain, and that they would now have followed him in Brazil.
An analysis of insightful crime
Bermúdez is only the last high -ranking Mexican official to be accused of collusion with organized crimes groups. And despite the arrest of this week of one of his best partners, similar cases suggest that the federal authorities may have tolerated the alleged bonds of Bermúdez with the CJNG for political reasons even if the accusations surfaced for the first time several years ago.
The highest case is that of Genaro García Luna, the former public security chief of Mexico under former President Felipe Calderón who was found guilty of having taken Millions of dollars in bribes of Sinaloa cartel and sentenced to 38 years in prison Last year. A few years earlier, American prosecutors condemned the former attorney general of the state of Nayarit, Edgar Veytia, for his role in a drug trafficking With a criminal organization called the H-2 cartel.
Identified as “El Comandante H”, Bermúdez would have been among the best leaders of the CJNG Bardora cell in Tabasco, according to information from the Ministry of Defense of Mexico (Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional – Sedena) obtained and shared with journalists by the collective hacker of Guacamaya in 2022.
In one of the pirated documents dated October 2021, Mexican intelligence officials found that Bermúdez had gone so far as to appoint regional leaders who operated with his support. Some of those who are linked to Bermúdez have engaged in mass kidnappings and a fuel flight, among other crimes.
“The corruption of Tabasco state authorities with the new generation of Jalisco Cartel is obvious,” concluded the report.
Despite these internal reports, some of which were produced in late 2019, the federal authorities made an arrest warrant against Bermúdez that this month.
See also: Three criminal revelations of leaks from the Ministry of Mexico De La Défense
“Whether as a strategy to combat insecurity, political opportunity or complicity, the truth is that the federal government had proof of links between Tabasco's state officials) and drug trafficking. But they have done nothing,” said David Saucedo, a Mexican security analyst, Insight Crime.
Bermúdez was appointed to his post in December 2019 by Adán Augusto López, the brother of ex-president López Obrador who was then the governor of Tabasco and is now interior secretary. For his part, López said he never suspected Bermúdez and would have withdrawn from his post if he had done it.
“It is incredible that a governor who held all the reins of power in his state, as did (López), was not aware of the criminal ties of Hernán Bermúdez with the CJNG,” said Saucedo.
Star image: Hernán Bermúdez Requena is accused of having directed a CJNG faction in Tabasco while the head of security. Photo: Security Secretary of Tabasco State
