• DECISION: A Mexican federal judge will proceed with a drug trafficking trial against a man suspected to have taken part in the 2019 massacre of three women and six children in the northern state of Sonora, the Mexican Attorney General Office (FGR) said Sunday.
• CONTEXT: The FGR has yet to file homicide charges against Héctor Mario Hernández Herrera, who according to government sources would be a local drug lord in Janos in neighboring Chihuahua. Family members have organized protests arguing Hernández Herrera is innocent.
• DRUGS: “In December 2019, members of (Mexico’s) Federal Ministerial Police (PFM), arrested (Hernández Herrera) in possession of various (ammunition rounds), a crystal-type solid substance, dry green grass, and 15 cell phones”, said the FGR adding that Hernández Herrera will remain in jail.
• SUSPECTS: In total, Mexican authorities have arrested five suspects linked to the 2019 massacre of nine members of the LeBaron and Langford families near the small Mormon colony of La Mora in Sonora. Among the detainees is a brother of Hernández Herrera.
