Report: Ex-wife of Mexican drug lord files human rights complaint over searches

Report: Mexican capo’s ex-wife files complaint

MEXICO CITY — A woman identified as the ex-wife of fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has reportedly filed a human rights complaint over police and military raids last week on properties believed linked to Guzman.

Human rights officials said Friday they were barred by confidentiality rules from revealing the name of the complainant, but they confirmed receipt of a filing alleging rights violations during the searches in the city of Culiacan where the raids took place.

La Jornada reported that Griselda Lopez Perez filed the complaint accusing soldiers and federal police of abuses during the raid on seven houses in upscale neighborhoods of Culiacan. The paper did not name its source.

In 2002, prosecutors identified Lopez Perez as Guzman’s wife. They have been unable to clarify since the raids whether she is divorced or separated from Guzman, but Mexican media have been calling her his “ex-wife.”

Culiacan is the capital and largest city in Sinaloa, considered the cradle of many of Mexico’s most powerful drug traffickers.

The president of the Sinaloa state Human Rights Commission, Juan Jose Rios, said the complaint was turned over to the federal rights commission because it involves federal authorities. The federal commission also confirmed receipt.

“It (the complaint) talks about damage, for example, to doors, the principle of respect for legal rights, breaking down doors,” Rios said. It also alleged violations of the right to due process, but did not contain mention any physical abuse.

The Attorney General’s Office said Lopez Perez was briefly detained and asked to give a statement to police during the May 12 raids, and was released within hours.

It said authorities seized six of the seven houses as well as seven luxury vehicles, computer equipment and five safes containing jewelry. It was not clear if any of that property belonged to Lopez Perez.

Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel, reportedly has built alliances with other cartels along the country’s northern border region and is leading an offensive against the rival Zetas gang.

He has long been reported to hide out and operate in the mountains of Sinaloa.

The government has traditionally denied it pursues relatives of drug suspects unless they are suspected of involvement in crimes.

Last August, prosecutors released the mother of reputed La Familia cartel leader Servando “La Tuta” Gomez after holding her for two days.

La Familia had threatened to retaliate if his family was bothered; federal police suffered violent attacks in the cartel’s home state of Michoacan both before and after her detention.