Generals freed after cartel claims dropped

AFP/Mexico City

Four high-ranking Mexican military officers, including three generals, were released from prison yesterday after prosecutors dropped charges that they protected a drug cartel due to a lack of evidence.

The officers accused the previous government of Felipe Calderon, who was president from 2006 to 2012, of abusing its power by jailing them in May last year.

Generals Roberto Dawe, Ricardo Escorcia and Ruben Perez, along with lieutenant colonel Silvio Hernandez, walked out of the maximum security prison of Almoloya in Mexico state early yesterday.

A fifth officer, Major Ivan Reyna, was also cleared of charges but he remained in prison due to a separate fraud case.

The attorney general’s office late Thursday ordered the “absolute and immediate” release of the military officials, citing a lack of evidence in a case accusing them of links to the Beltran Leyva cartel. Their release came two months after the former deputy head of the army, retired general Tomas Angeles Dauahare, was also freed due to a lack of evidence in the same case.

“In the end, the one who put us in prison was the previous president and his attorney general (Marisela Morales),” Escorcia told reporters after his release, calling the case “an abuse of power.”

The arrest of the military officers came in the last months of Calderon’s presidency, which was marked by a massive troop deployment across the country to combat drug cartels. “I am very upset, I feel aggrieved,” Perez said. “What happened was vile and it’s good that justice is being rendered.”

Jose Gabriel Baeza, a lawyer for two of the officers, said the officials had “impeccable careers” in the military and that the accusations against them were based on the testimony of gang members.