Paraguay captures former Mexican commander seeking to establish criminal network
Paraguayan authorities arrested Hernán Bermúdez in Asunción, the former security chief in Tabasco, Mexico. They are investigating whether he was attempting to create a criminal organisation in national territory.
Paraguay captures former Mexican commander seeking to establish criminal network
A former high-ranking Mexican law enforcement official was taken into custody in the Paraguayan capital during Friday night. He is Hernán Bermúdez, who between 2018 and 2024 headed the police force in the state of Tabasco, in south-eastern Mexico. From Asunción, the head of the anti-drugs secretariat, Jalil Rachid, stated that the arrest prevented the man known as "Comandante H" or "El Abuelo" from developing a criminal structure on Paraguayan soil.
At a press conference, Rachid clarified that the capture came after joint work with Mexican intelligence. Since 5 March, the authorities of the North American country detected the fugitive's movements towards Paraguay. That information was shared with the local National Intelligence Secretariat, which made it possible to locate him in the metropolitan region of Asunción and neutralise any illegal operation that could have been in the works, according to reporting by EL PAÍS.
Rachid also mentioned that a direct relative of the detained man—his nephew Gerardo Bermúdez—had been arrested in Paraguayan territory a couple of months earlier, in July, in a matter related to gambling. The former Mexican official is believed to have entered the country without valid documentation during the early months of the year.
In his country of origin, Bermúdez is wanted by the courts for alleged links to a gang called "La Barredora". The charges include criminal conspiracy, extortion and express kidnapping. During his police administration, the organisation attributed to him maintained ties with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, though over time both groups broke relations, triggering a wave of homicides in Tabasco.
Bermúdez's appointment in 2018 was made by the then Tabasco governor Adán Augusto López, later federal Interior Secretary and today coordinator of the ruling bloc in the Mexican Senate. The capture of the former police chief has raised alarm in Mexico's political scene, where President Claudia Sheinbaum has promised that the investigation will reach all those involved, regardless of their position.
Source: Google News PY — Crime