A judge in Nicaragua [2] on June 20 ruled that the man who allegedly plotted the fatal attack on revered Argentine folk-singer Facundo Cabral [3] last year will be charged in the Central American country for drug trafficking and money laundering. Costa Rican national Alejandro Jimenez Gonzalez AKA "Palidejo" is currently being tried in Guatemala [4], where Cabral was killed last year. The criminal court in Managua said it would prosecute another 20 people accused of running a trafficking network that stretched from Costa Rica to Mexico. Nicaraguan police arrested 11 of Palidejo’s associates last month—including Julio César Osuna, a former judge who once served on Nicaragua's electoral council. Osuna's brother was also among the detained.
In Guatemala, Palidejo is accused of hiring gunmen to kill a nightclub owner who stole a cocaine shipment from him. But the hitmen apparently instead killed Cabral, who was traveling in a car with the club owner. Palidejo also faces money laundering charges in Costa Rica [5], where prosecutors have linked him to two narco mafias—Colombia's Rastrojos [6] and Mexico's Familia Michoacana [7]. (InSight Crime [8], June 22; Nuevo Diario [9], Managua, June 21)
A Facundo Cabral homage website [10] notes that last month he would have turned 75.
See our last posts on Central America [11] and the regional narco wars [12].
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