Story Archive

Turnabout

Residents in Valle de Luz, Guerrero, Mexico, exasperated by “El Tequilero” (roughly, The Tequilla Drinker), whose gang kidnaps people for ransom, say police are doing nothing to stop the crime wave. When a respected community member, architect and engineer Isauro de Paz Duque, was abducted, locals finally had enough: they “took up arms” and grabbed about 20 people that Raybel Jacobo de Almonte — El Tequilero — apparently cared about. Like who? “We’ve got his mom,” said de Paz Duque’s wife. To prove it, she released a video of the woman. “My son, if you have the engineer hand him over, please,” she pleads in the video. “If you have him I’ll trust that you will deliver him,” she says. “Do it, please.” De Paz Duque was very quickly released. De Almonte’s mother was then released unharmed, but Guerrero’s governor claimed that “government intermediaries” had brokered the deal. (RC/Mexico News Daily, AP) ...Time for Mrs. de Paz Duque to run for Governor.