Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MONTERREY18
2009-01-14 22:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Monterrey
Cable title:  

BATISTA KIDNAPPING CASE: LITTLE REAL PROGRESS SO FAR

Tags:  ASEC SNAR PGOV KCRM ECON MX 
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VZCZCXRO7091
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHMC #0018/01 0142224
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 142224Z JAN 09
FM AMCONSUL MONTERREY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3420
INFO RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 4465
RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USNORTHCOM
RUEHMC/AMCONSUL MONTERREY 8964
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTERREY 000018 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/14/2019
TAGS: ASEC SNAR PGOV KCRM ECON MX
SUBJECT: BATISTA KIDNAPPING CASE: LITTLE REAL PROGRESS SO FAR

REF: 2008 MONTERREY 565

MONTERREY 00000018 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Bruce Williamson, Consul General, Monterrey,
State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTERREY 000018

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/14/2019
TAGS: ASEC SNAR PGOV KCRM ECON MX
SUBJECT: BATISTA KIDNAPPING CASE: LITTLE REAL PROGRESS SO FAR

REF: 2008 MONTERREY 565

MONTERREY 00000018 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Bruce Williamson, Consul General, Monterrey,
State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary. Despite widespread publicity and continued
USG efforts, there has been little progress in resolving the
December 10 kidnapping of Felix Batista, an Amcit
anti-kidnapping expert. Coahuila Governor Humberto Moreira
Valdes personally assured the Consul General that he would
provide any requested assistance, telling us that he would
instruct state Attorney General Jesus Torres Charles to
cooperate fully with the FBI. The case had been at a standstill
as Torres has treated Batista's disappearance as a missing
persons case and has done a minimal investigation. Following
our meeting with the Governor, Moreira shuffled his cabinet,
increasing Torres' responsibilities. Torres subsequently met
with FBI A/Legatt and FBI case officer in charge of the case, at
which time he released Batista's personal effects (including
Batista's laptop computer and thumbdrive) and agreed to arrange
an interview with a key witness. Separately, FBI has
interviewed several other witnesses present immediately prior to
Batista's abduction (these meetings were scheduled prior to the
session with Governor Moreira). Given the passage of time, the
lack of any ransom demand, and indications that the victim was
kidnapped by drug enforcers (Gulf Cartel Zetas),chances of
recovering Batista alive are slim. End Summary.

Background


2. (C) Batista's friend and colleague Pilar Valdez, longtime
director for security for the Saltillo Industrial Group (GIS)
was kidnapped the morning of December 10, and Batista was
apparently negotiating for Pilar's release when he went to
dinner on December 10. Batista received a call, left his
computer, credit card and cell phone with his dinner companions,
instructed them to call a number if he did not return, and he
got into a waiting car outside the restaurant. Pilar was
released an hour later, but there has been no subsequent contact
with Batista or his apparent kidnappers (see reftel).

Subsequent statements by Valdez to the FBI indicate that his
abductors believed that Batista had been passing information on
the drug cartels to Mexican federal law enforcement authorities.

Meeting with the Governor


3. (C) On January 9 the Consul General and Consular Chief
met with Coahuila Governor Humberto Moreira. Moreira stated his
willingness to help, noting that the widespread publicity about
the case was harming Coahuila's image. Indeed, on the security
front Moreira said that the USG was the only institution that he
fully trusted. Governor Moreira then ushered Attorney General
Jesus Torres Charles into the meeting, repeating for Torres'
benefit his determination to solve the case and his offers of
cooperation.


4. (C) Later that day, Governor Moreira shuffled his cabinet,
giving Attorney General Torres control of both the Attorney
General's office and the Secretariat of Public Security, and
relegating Secretary of Public Security Fausto Destenave Kuri, a
former federal prosecutor, to the State Commission on Water and
Sewage. As reported in reftel, Secretary Destenave, Torres'
bureaucratic rival, had been very helpful in informally
providing the Consulate with videotapes from the restaurant
outside of which Batista was abducted and copies of Batista's
papers and notes. Although several of Destenave's subordinates
remain at present, the Governor placed a Torres loyalist,
Alfredo Udave Davila, as the new Secretary of Public Security
and Torres oversees the office.


5. (C) On January 12, Consulate A/Legat, TDY FBI case
officer, and Conoff met with the newly-empowered Attorney
General Torres and Acting Secretary Udave to test the Governor's
earlier statements. Torres released Batista's personal effects,
including his computer and thumb drives, which the FBI will
analyze for leads. Torres also agreed to arrange for a formal
interview with Pilar Valdez, although given Torres' earlier
unwillingness to do so, Post officials had already gone ahead
and previously met with Valdez unofficially.

Federal or State Jurisdiction?


6. (C) It is possible that the Batista case will be
federalized, which may or may not result in a more complete
investigation. Mexican federal government officials claimed in
the press that they could not bring the case to the federal
level because the family had not filed a complaint. However, in
the January 13 edition of the leading Monterrey newspaper El
Norte, Batista's wife said that she had filed a complaint with
the Mexican Consulate in Miami on December 24 and had been told
that the compliant would be forwarded and filed. However, due
to employee vacations, she alleges that the Consulate did not

MONTERREY 00000018 002.2 OF 002


forward the complaint to San Antonio until January 11 and the
complaint still had not been filed as of January 12. GOM
embarrassment of the mishandling of the complaint could prompt
it to move the case to a federal level, but it is not clear if
that would resolve the case faster. The federal police would
need to start a police investigation without local knowledge
more than a month after the crime.
EDWARDS