Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Police arrest main suspect in case of Oaxaca acid attack

Oaxaca state police have arrested former lawmaker Juan Antonio Vera Carrizal, the main suspect in the case of an acid attack on saxophone player María Elena Ríos Ortiz in September of last year.

Ríos was attacked with acid by a man pretending to be a travel agency customer on September 9 in Huajuapan de León, Oaxaca, leaving her disfigured and wondering if she would ever be able to play her instrument again.

The arrest was confirmed by Governor Alejandro Murat, who said that the ex-deputy “would now face justice for the terrible act of violence [he] committed.”

Vera was arrested about five weeks after the Oaxaca Attorney General’s Office (FGE) placed a 1-million-peso reward (US $53,000 at the time) on his head in February.

Interpol had also issued a Red Notice for Vera, initiating an international search, and the Financial Intelligence Unit had frozen his bank accounts.

On Friday the FGE arrested another man related to the crime who was responsible for paying the men to carry out the attack and is now facing charges of femicide.

Although recovery has been a long process that will continue for years, Ríos was able to regain the use of her hands well enough to once again play her saxophone for a TV audience in early March.

Sources: Milenio (sp), Expansión Política (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
luz del mundo church with poster of Naason Joaquín García

Family of Naasón Joaquín García, leader of La Luz del Mundo, charged with sex trafficking

0
Joaquín, his mother and his nephew are charged with running "a wide-ranging racketeering and child exploitation enterprise" that preyed on young members of the La Luz del Mundo Church over many years.
washed up gray whale in Tijuana

92 gray whales have washed up dead in Baja California Sur, the worst die-off in decades

0
Scientists say malnutrition is to blame — not poaching or ship strikes — after most carcasses were found decomposed and showed no signs of direct human harm.

Annual inflation rose in August, but remains within central bank’s comfort zone

0
After easing in June and July, the consumer price index accelerated by 0.06% from July to August, a modest rise that leaves the door open to another possible interest rate cut on Sept. 25.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity