A cartel hit assassin squad leader wanted for last year’s murder of two Jesuit priests was found shot dead in Mexico.
José Portillo’s remains were identified by his sister, prosecutors in the western state of Sinaloa said Wednesday.
The 30-year-old was accused of killing clergymen Javier Campos, 79, and Joaquin Mora, 80, and tour guide Pedro Palma in front of a church in the northern state of Chihuahua on June 22, 2022.
Sinaloa authorities located Portillo after responding to a report of a dead body Tuesday in a field in the town of Choix, which is dominated by the Sinaloa Cartel.
José Portillo, the leader of a hit squad that operated for the Sinaloa Cartel, was found dead Monday
Father Joaquín Mora (pictured) was shot dead June 22, 2022 when he and another priest, Javier Campos, confronted a drug gang leader José Portillo after he had killed a tour guide, Pedro Palma, outside a church in Urique, a city in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua
Father Javier Campos was one of the two Jesuit priests who were executed at their church in June 2022 by José Portillo, the leader of a gang of assassins linked to the Sinaloa Cartel
Sinaloa chief prosecutor, César Jáuregui, said Portillo was shot in the head and that investigators had recovered 15 bullet casings that were fired from an AR-15 rifle.
Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday morning during his press conference that the body was the cartel gang leader.
The Society of Jesus, as the Jesuits are known, released a statement Wednesday and stopped short of saying that Portillo’s death didn’t mean that justice had been attained for the murders of the priests and tour guide.
‘If it is confirmed that this is the person implicated in the murder of the two Jesuit priests, his turning up dead can in no way be considered a triumph for justice, or a solution to the structural problem of violence’ in the mountainous Sierra Tarahumara region, the Jesuits said in a statement.
‘On the contrary, the lack of an adequate legal process in the murder case would only imply the Mexican government has failed in its basic duties and confirm that the authorities do not have control of the territory,’ according to the Society of Jesus.
José Portillo’s body was found Monday in an empty field in the Sinaloa town of Choix
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the Defense Department had vowed to find Portillo and bring him to justice.
It is not uncommon in Mexico for cartels to kill one of their own members, if their misdeeds have resulted in increased police or military pressure that affects the gang’s business.
Portillo’s gang was directly linked to Los Salazar, the armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel in Chihuahua.
He allegedly killed Reverend Campos, Reverend Mora and Palma after Palma sought protection inside the church located in the Chihuahua municipality of Urique.
Mexican soldiers stand guard in front of a church in the Chihuahua city of Urique where two Jesuit priests and a tour guide were executed by a drug cartel gang leader in June 2022
Patrick Braxton-Andrews (pictured), a North Carolina native, was visiting Urique on a hiking trip and never returned to his hotel after leaving it on October 28, 2018. He was found shot dead on a dirt road about three weeks later. Chihuahua authorities linked José Portillo to the murder
Campos, Mora and a third priest, Jesús Reyes, came out of the church to see what was happening, when Portillo shot Palma.
Portillo then shot either Campos or Mora while one of them prayed over Palma and proceeded to shoot the second priest.
He then spared Reyes’ life and asked him for forgiveness before he and his henchmen placed the three bodies in a pickup truck and then left them inside the church.
Portillo is also the prime suspect in the murder of American teacher Patrick Braxton-Andrews.
The North Carolina man was visiting Urique on a hiking trip and never returned to his hotel on October 28, 2018.
He was found shot dead about three weeks later on a dirt road that connects the Urique villages of Guapalayna to Las Lajas.
Chihuahua authorities also linked Portillo to the murder of community activist Cruz Soto in October 2019 as well as the disappearances of Javier Muñoz Pérez, Juan Antonio Martínez and Rubén Flores Cisneros that month.
