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Arturo Pedroza Aguirre is a Mexican retired police officer and former head of the Tamaulipas State Police. He joined the state police in the mid-1980s and left in 2004. Throughout his career he held the roles of head of the homicide task force and commander. As commander he was stationed in Reynosa, Matamoros, Ciudad Madero and Nuevo Laredo. During his twenty-year career, he was lauded by his supporters for his work in promoting international law enforcement cooperation. His critics accused him of protecting the Gulf Cartel kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén and of collaborating with Los Zetas, the cartel's former paramilitary group. His role in Nuevo Laredo was critical for the expansion and consolidation of Los Zetas, who sought the support of the Tamaulipas State Police to gain ground in their turf war against local drug traffickers and the Nuevo Laredo Municipal Police.

Background
Arturo Pedroza Aguirre was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He joined the state police in the mid-1980s and worked there of twenty years, holding multiple roles throughout his tenure. He was the head of the homicide task force and was also a police commander. Throughout his tenure, Pedroza Aguirre was subject to controversy; his supporters lauded him as a trustworthy police chief in international law enforcement cooperation. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) congratulated him at the end of his career for his cooperation with this matter. However, his critics accused him of organized crime involvement, human rights violations, and for his short stint in prison on a battery charge. In the State of Mexico, he was accused of facilitating the car thief industry, an activity that later flourished in Tamaulipas.

1990s
On 23 January 1993, the Center for Border Studies and the Promotion of Human Rights (CEFPRODHAC) in Reynosa sued Pedroza Aguirre for defamation and for making allegedly false accusations against Arturo Solís Gómez, the organization's chairman. In the lawsuit, it detailed that Pedroza Aguirre accused Solís Gómez of protecting criminals and drug traffickers in the city. This comment was made after one person from the CEFPRODHAC was arrested after killing a store guard following an armed robbery in June 1992. The suspect, Noé García López (aged 19), was released despite being arrested in flagrante delicto because he used his CEFPRODHAC credentials to threaten the police of violating his human rights. Several journalists from local and national outlets were summoned to court to give an official testimony on the case.

In the early 1990s, Pedroza Aguirre was head of the Tamaulipas State Police in Reynosa. On 11 February 1993, however, former Tamaulipas State Police chief Daniel Ulloa González removed Pedroza Aguirre from his post in Reynosa and substituted him with Nicolás Cantú Cantú. Ulloa González also removed other police chiefs in Matamoros, Río Bravo, Camargo and Miguel Alemán. Pedroza Aguirre was moved to Matamoros. While station in Matamoros, he reportedly worked closely with the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas. On 9 July 1997, the state police arrested Osiel Cárdenas Guillén in Matamoros after recklessly firing rounds of ammunition while intoxicated. He was taken to the police station, where he met Pedroza Aguirre. No official transcripts of their conversation exist, but sources close to the case stated that Cárdenas Guillén was well-treated during his arrest. He was released later that day and was allowed to keep his gun. Pedroza Aguirre reportedly assigned one of his policemen, Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa ("El Caramuela"), to protect Cárdenas Guillén. During that time, Cárdenas Guillén was a rising drug trafficker; he would later become the top leader of the Gulf Cartel. Also in 1997, Pedroza Aguirre temporarily arrested drug trafficker Hugo Baldomero Medina Garza in Matamoros. He released him despite having outstanding criminal charges. Critics accused Pedroza Aguirre of deploying this strategy against Cárdenas Guillén and Medina Garza to show them "who was in charge" and as a way to intimidate them.

On 23 July 1997, during a rotation program headed by former Tamaulipas attorney general José Guadalupe Herrera Bustamante, Pedroza Aguirre was transferred from Matamoros and sent to Ciudad Madero. His post in Matamoros was taken by police chief Domingo Serna Núñez. According to state authorities, this rotational program was done to increase the efficiency of their state police force and promote police chiefs for their results. In 1999, Pedroza Aguirre was arrested for abusing his police authority, intimidation and battery, all while working with other public officials to conduct illegal activities. The specific incident was caused after he shot an individual on his ankle for catcalling his girlfriend at a gymnasium.

2000s
Pedroza Aguirre was released from prison in 2001 and resumed his police duties. On 27 April 2002, Pedroza Aguirre disintegrated the homicide task force of the Tamaulipas State Police and transferred its former task force head, Jaime Trejo Cantú, to Ciudad Victoria. Pedroza Aguirre also stated that he would rotate other police chiefs after doing performance evaluations. By 2002, Pedroza Aguirre was the head of the police in Nuevo Laredo. During his tenure, tensions between Pedroza Aguirre and the municipal police were also high during his tenure.

On 15 November 2002, Pedroza Aguirre violently stormed the municipal police station to release one of his officers who was detained by municipal authorities on a kidnapping charge. The incident began after one of Pedroza Aguirre's officers, Aníbal Alejandro de los Santos Borja, arrested Guadalupe Ibarra Muñoz on a fraud charge. An anonymous tip reached the Nuevo Laredo Municipal Police that a man had been kidnapped. Ten municipal police officers arrested de los Santos and took him to the municipal police station despite the fact that he showed them the arrest warrant and his police identification card. Municipal police officers shot de los Santos twice on his feet. Hours later, at least 28 state policemen, including Pedroza Aguirre, stormed the building to release him. They were heavily armed and overwhelmed the municipal police officers upon their arrival. Pedroza Aguirre told reporters that they arrived at the police station peacefully and asked the municipal police to release their member. At the scene, state police officers beat several municipal officers; two bullets were shot during the altercation. Nuevo Laredo mayor José Manuel Suárez López (2002–2004) ordered Pedroza Aguirre's demotion on 15 November 2002. The mayor argued that Pedroza Aguirre's action were not representative of a public official that should represent the state. On 25 November, Pedroza Aguirre was replaced by Francisco Ramírez López and sent to head the homicide task force, which was reopened after it was disintegrated months earlier.

On 16 March 2004, crime journalist Roberto Javier Mora García was stabbed to death near his home in Nuevo Laredo. According to Rubén Hernández López, a former Tamaulipas State Police officer who worked under Pedroza Aguirre, Mora García received death threats from Pedroza Aguirre and the Tamaulipas attorney general Francisco Cayuela Villarreal for a specific publication in El Mañana newspaper targeting state officials. Though the article was written anonymously, Pedroza Aguirre reportedly believed that Mora García was the author. "It was Mora Garcia, the fagg*t", Hernández López recalled what Pedroza Aguirre reportedly told him. This was confession was made while Hernández López was in prison for a murder charge on 26 June. Officially, Mora García was murdered by two men in a crime of passion, but a number of independent organizations stated the case was filled with irregularities and cover-ups, and that he was likely murdered for his direct reporting.

On 26 June 2004, Tamaulipas attorney general Ramón Durón Ruiz announced that 25 policemen from the state force were fired for failing drug tests and/or evaluation exams. At least eight of them were commanders. A total of 688 police officers were submitted to evaluations, and Durón Ruiz stated that it was done to combat impunity and corruption in the police ranks. It was not known if Pedroza Aguirre was among the list of officers who failed the anti-doping list because those names were not released to the public. However, Durón Ruiz stated that he was being investigating for using an armored vehicle during his police duties that was valued at nearly US$100,000. This vehicle was not an official police patrol car.

On 24 November 2004, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) issued a report accusing Pedroza Aguirre of "irregularities" while heading the state police in Nuevo Laredo. According to a report, several police officers broke into the house of Sanda Edna Romo de Torres, a resident of Ciudad Madero, and stole several of her belongings. The CNDH stated that the policemen entered the home through the back door after attempting to break in through the main entrance and after destroying the side gate that let them to the back. Neighbors asked authorities to present a search warrant, but they were ordered to leave the scene. The CNDH stated that Pedroza Aguirre was suspected of commanding the operation. In the report, Pedroza Aguirre's address in Ciudad Madero was listed. He was ordered to make an appearance at the city hall's justice department. On 29 September 2006, Pedroza Aguirre and several other Tamaulipas policemen were suspended for 20 days without pay for an unnamed infraction.

Organized crime cases
His arrival to Nuevo Laredo coincided with the expansion and consolidation of Los Zetas as a dominant criminal group in the area. Though Los Zetas were involved in drug trafficking activities in Nuevo Laredo, this activity played a minor role in their consolidation. Other criminal activities, such as extortion, racketeering, and taxing drug distributors, were crucial for their operations. Pedroza Aguirre reportedly helped facilitate their activities in the area. Prior to Los Zetas' arrival in Nuevo Laredo, criminal activities in Nuevo Laredo were controlled by Dionisio Román García Sánchez ("El Chacho"), a former state police officer and the head of a Nuevo Laredo-based smuggling group known as Los Chachos. They worked closely with the Nuevo Laredo Municipal Police, which provided them protection and facilitated their drug operations. The municipal police was thereby in direct competition with Los Zetas's arrival in their turf.

On 13 May 2002, García Sánchez was kidnapped by a commando of approximately twenty Zetas members in Monterrey. The operation was headed by the cartel gunman Víctor Manuel Vázquez Mireles. Pedroza Aguirre reportedly tipped off García Sánchez's whereabouts to Cárdenas Guillén and Los Zetas; he told them that García Sánchez was hiding in a residential neighborhood, and gave them the exact home address. Los Zetas acted on his information and abducted García Sánchez at his home along with four of his henchmen; one of his gunmen, Juvenal Sánchez Torres ("El Juve"), was killed during the operation. Los Zetas suffered one casualty after their gunman Raúl Alberto Trejo Benavides ("El Alvin") was mortally wounded. García Sánchez was taken to Tamaulipas and was found dead that same day in Río Bravo; he was tortured and mutilated by his captors. In an interview with the press, Pedroza Aguirre stated that this attack would likely result in a turf war between drug traffickers. He stated that the state police would double their efforts, and that they were prepared and well-equipped for any violent reactions from organized crime groups. The offensive between Los Zetas and Los Chachos climaxed and reached more violent dimensions after García Sánchez was executed. Pedroza Aguirre was in charge of coordinating efforts with Nuevo León state officials since the murder occurred in their jurisdiction.

Pedroza Aguirre was reportedly on Los Zetas' payroll and was responsible for distributing their money with other police officers. Los Zetas reportedly paid Pedroza Aguirre and other policemen US$300 a week to gain their support and help in their fight against the rival forces of the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Chachos. Los Zetas used the radio communication system of Pedroza Aguirre's police force to send threatening messages to rival gangsters. To create pressure on Los Chachos, Pedroza Aguirre indicted multiple gangsters from the group, including García Sánchez and others who had once worked for the state police.

Assassination attempt
At around 7:50 a.m. on 26 September 2002, gunmen attempted to kill Pedroza Aguirre inside a gymnasium in Nuevo Laredo. They shot at the facility's exterior using AK-47s, but only damaged several windows and vehicles parked nearby. No injuries or deaths were reported. Pedroza Aguirre told reporters that arrived at the scene that he exercised there regularly. Investigators stated that they found nearly 100 bullet casings and three AK-47s at the scene, and said they would investigate them to determine if the weapons used in the attack had been used in other attacks. After the attack, Pedroza Aguirre swiftly gathered with investigators and suspended all break sessions to conduct surveillance measures and find the perpetrators. The attempt against Pedroza Aguirre was one the main drug-related attacks that year in Nuevo Laredo.

The police stated that members from Los Chachos were responsible for carrying out the attack; Pedroza Aguirre directly blamed one of their lead gangsters, Edgar Valdez Villarreal ("La Barbie"). He stated that Valdez Villarreal was accompanied by two of his associates, Alejandro Cárdenas and José Ángel Fernández Manríquez, who participated in the attack against him. Preliminary police reports stated that Los Chachos gangster and former policeman Fernando Manuel Moreno Martínez was involved in the attack. Four months prior, Moreno Martínez was interrogated by Pedroza Aguirre after one of his aides, Rolando Jiménez Guzmán ("El Diablo"), was briefly kidnapped. The kidnappers wanted to abduct Moreno Martinez but confused him. Pedroza Aguirre questioned Moreno Martínez in his office about the incident and his alleged involvement in Los Chachos. Since the police did not have an arrest warrant for his capture, Moreno Martínez was released. He was eventually killed by gunmen along with gangster Jorge Augusto Ríos de la Rosa on 21 May 2003.

The attempt was reportedly carried out because of Pedroza Aguirre's law enforcement efforts against Los Chachos. The police believed that Los Chachos was nearly decimated and was desperately looking to regroup. The suspects were identified after investigators gathered fingerprint evidence from the weapons and vehicles used in the attack. Pedroza Aguirre stated that the police believed they were hiding in Monterrey or Anáhuac, Nuevo León. The Tamaulipas State Police stated they would work with multiple police agencies nationwide, and primarily the Nuevo León State Police, to apprehend these individuals. However, the case fell under Nuevo Leon jurisdiction because it did not occur in Tamaulipas; Pedroza Aguirre stated that his police force was readily available for interstate collaboration and formally requested Nuevo León State Police to help capture his would-be assassins on 12 October 2002. Three days later, federal authorities assigned to the Attorney General's Office (PGR) in Anáhuac took over Pedroza Aguirre's assassination attempt case.


 * Fernando Manuel Moreno Martínez
 * Juana Ludivina Rosales Sánchez
 * Ismael Flores Godínez