On the trail of El Botox' in Mexico's citrus-growing Wall Street

On the trail of El Botox' in Mexico's citrus-growing Wall Street

Briefly

"The women gather on a bench in Cenobio Moreno. There are more than 10 of them, laughing, murmuring, fiddling with the sleeves of their shirts, the loose strands of their hair in buns. It's hot, and it's been dark for a while now; a January heat, 36 degrees Celsius, with acceptable humidity. Shall we do it now? one of them says. Let's do it now. And then they all begin, taking turns, to tell their stories."

"Deep down, that story is almost always the same: agents from one agency, or several, broke into their homes after they had already left almost all of them, to pick lemons. They took money, dishes, Tupperware, baptismal pendants, even three piggy banks, one in the form of a pig, another a dog, and one more a lamb. It happened in the early hours of Friday, January 23, just a day after the arrest nearby of Cesar Sepulveda, alias El Botox, or Boto,"

"His capture was a major coup for Mexican security forces, including those in Michoacan, who had been trying to apprehend him for over a decade. Botox is accused of extorting lemon growers in the area and of several murders, including that of Bernardo Bravo, president of one of the region's main citrus producers' associations. It was a significant victory, moreover, because his arrest came amid yet another back-and-forth between Mexico and the United States over the narrative surrounding the fight against organized crime."