Truths and Rumors

It was a matter of time. The sub-agents repeatedly pointed out that the insecurity in La Laguna de Durango had already spiraled out of control due to extortion and extortion, clearly extending to Coahuila, since the Comarca La Laguna is one. The answer? Instead of bringing order to the situation, the Durango government preferred to evade the issue and broadcast official statements guaranteeing that security in Durango was top-notch. Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister who ended up committing suicide with his wife after poisoning their six children, said that "a lie told a thousand times becomes a great truth." Perhaps that served Nazi Germany well in an era without the internet or social media, but now, sustaining a lie with the tools available is almost impossible. No, you can't hide the sun with your finger, just as the discovery of a human head under the Solidaridad Bridge on the Durango side of the river this Friday couldn't be hidden...

The human head that appeared in broad daylight under the Nazas Bridge, where thousands of residents of La Laguna from Coahuila and Durango travel at all hours, remained on-site, guarded by members of the Coahuila State Police, who waited for Durango state police for over an hour, even though the Durango Deputy Prosecutor's Office wasn't even 10 minutes away. This hasn't happened in La Laguna de Durango for over 14 years, and the report the sub-agents remember was that head from Cuencamé in 2010. Although, it's worth noting, it wasn't until 2023 that a decapitated body was found in Torreón (although the head wasn't found) along the Torreón-San Pedro highway. This Friday, August 8th of this year, the perpetrators clearly intended for the deceased to be identified, leaving the head of the bearded, white man in his 30s inside a paint can covered only with a sheet. The action itself leaves an implicit message, and any investigations—if any—will be handled by the Durango Prosecutor's Office.

It seems that a lack of tolerance and a lack of willingness to engage in dialogue are the hallmarks of some Torreón municipal officials. A video circulated on gossipy social media of the July 15 meeting between residents of the Villa Florida neighborhood, who oppose the widening of the Paso Vial (Road Pass), the state government's "representative," David Flores Lavenant, who is not authorized to make statements about anything that doesn't suit him, and the Municipal Director of Public Works, Juan Adolfo von Bertrab Saracho, who expressed his annoyance because the disgruntled residents of that area are not letting him move forward with the project, which will benefit the city. At that meeting, where the neighbors were supposed to be heard in their intention to have studies carried out before continuing with the expansion works, since their houses will be a few meters from the road and they fear damage, von Bertrab Saracho lost patience with Luis Manuel de la Cruz Mejía, lawyer and leader of the so-called Social Movement for the Land, and complained that he had gotten up from his seat, breaking off the dialogue. However, those present affirm that Luis Manuel got up to make himself heard when he spoke, not to leave the meeting, and they also said that von Bertrab became so desperate that he threw a punch at him, but failed to hit him because of the small table that was in the way. They also said that at the meeting, von Bertrab "slipped out" to tell the residents that the Municipality already had the final ruling on the injunction they filed against the project (for which the constitutional hearing will only take place this coming Monday) and warned them that it would not favor them, essentially telling them that their case was lost. This further worried the dissidents, who said they would not give in and would file legal appeals, if it came to that. Without a doubt, in order to reach an agreement, the first thing is to know how to listen and the second is to know how to negotiate.

Our gossipy sub-agents tell us that the current head of the Integrated Road Maintenance System, who in the first term of Torreón's most favored mayor, Víctor Navarro, was paid in the Administrative Services department, is up to some mischief, having sent a subordinate to perform personal work during working hours, using municipal materials and, of course, outside the SIMV plans. What he didn't count on is that there are still honest and well-intentioned people in the public administration, like Vicente Triana Moreno, who immediately went to report what was being done with public funds. When he was caught, Mr. Víctor got offended "because he doesn't like gossip" and fired the honest public servant, who, to him, is still a "gossip." The now-fired public servant is just now learning from sub-agents the reason why he was no longer required. This is how it goes in the upside-down world of the municipality.

The one who caused a stir on gossip-mongering social media was the well-intentioned senator, Miguel Riquelme, after he was happily seen getting ready to run the 2025 edition of the Coahuila 1000 tourist route, which starts in Torreón and ends in Monclova. "Let it go along the entire Metrobus route", "And when will the Metrobus be built?", "Let it run along the boulevard instead" and the other comments the sub-agents no longer dared to refer to because they included harsh criticism of the Tricolor. The sub-agents have repeated, also ad nauseam, that the forgotten Metrobus infrastructure, a project that was not and will not be built - as Don Teofilito said - at this point serves no purpose other than to hinder drivers and pedestrians and to remind people that the project was not executed. The problem is that no one in Coahuila dares to remove this infrastructure and the PRI prefers to have this "reminder" that serves the opposition well every time there are elections or every time it rains in case the roof of the BusLaguna station, on Constitución and Múzquiz boulevards, ends up collapsing. By the way, there also on Coahuila 1000 the Without shame, Deputy Director of Transportation, Mobility and Infrastructure of Coahuila Fernando Simón Guitiérrez Pérez, commissioned by Don Miguel and now by Governor Echado Pa' Delante to promote the famous Metrobus project and until now has done nothing...

The issue of gender-based violence against women seems to be a minor issue for the authorities. In Torreón, while an investigation is underway following a recommendation from the Coahuila State Human Rights Commission (CDHEC) against the Municipal Police for assaulting women who marched on March 8 of last year, the Municipal Women's Institute awarded the police force for its work against violence against women. This is a curious case when they, precisely, have not heeded the recommendations issued by the Commission, such as the authority's recognition that their right to a life free from violence was violated. The municipality has a deadline of August 18 to address the recommendations, which the CDHEC has not yet made public on its official website.

And in Durango, the issue of the Gender Violence Alert, issued in 2018, is also on hold, and progress remains nil for the federal government. Conavim asserts that the resolutions have not been followed despite the fact that municipalities like Gómez Palacio and Lerdo have done everything possible to escape this measure. First, it was reported that the 16 municipalities on alert and the state of Durango did not present progress according to the protocols, in addition to countless excuses for not issuing a new ruling. The reality is that the federal government has not reported any progress since 2023, and time has passed, as municipal authorities will change in a matter of days. Specifically, the current ones will end on August 31st, and the new authorities will have to revisit the issue and once again remain in a state of "Alert."

Allende el Nazas, in Gómez Palacio, this week the municipal trustee elected for the 2025-2028 administration, Francisco González Díaz, coordinator of Betzabé's team in the handover-reception process, indicated that an external office will be advising them to surely receive "clear accounts" that will probably be delivered by the administration of Doña Lety Herrera, who also never takes a step without a sandal, and has also been receiving advice for some time, so that it is most likely that at the end of the handover-reception process the result will be something like "what came in, came out" and so so, it was very noticeable how well the team of outgoing and incoming officials get along. Laughter here and there, mischievous glances and the same camaraderie that can exist between someone who owes someone a favor. Doña Lety's departure will be smoother than velvet, nothing like the 2019-2022 Morena administration of Doña Marina Vitela, who spoke rather poorly of the PRI's second administration, which is about to leave to enjoy her grandchildren. We'll see and decide how many officials from the capital of the scorpions come to work in Gómez Palacio, considering that not even the mayor-elect is a native of these lands.

In Lerdo, everything indicates that Flora Leal, former presidential candidate for the Lerdo region for the 4T (Party of the Left), has lost interest in continuing to grind away at the courts with challenges to the electoral process. Instead, she's already rejoining the local Congress, where she at least has a platform to continue speaking ill of the outgoing Lerdo municipal government and, most likely, the incoming one led by Susy Torrecillas. She won't miss the opportunity to take aim at it even with the mortar board now that the public accounts of Durango's municipalities are being reviewed. Incidentally, last Wednesday, the Durango Electoral Tribunal concluded its resolutions on the challenges to the June 1st elections, and in Lerdo, it resolved the latest challenges from Morena and the Labor Party. It analyzed nine grounds for nullity, and of those, only four polling stations were certified as having received votes from unauthorized individuals. Consequently, the votes from those polling stations were annulled and the tally sheet modified, but the validity of the election was once again confirmed, along with the majority votes confirming the owner of all the fortnightly payments, Mr. Homero Martínez, in the presidential chair.