Overview
- Raúl Campos Espinosa, a former head of the Gendarmería, was detained in La Piedad, Michoacán and charged on Sunday, June 21, 2026, with probable participation in a forced disappearance from September 2017.
- A federal judge found sufficient evidence to link him to the case and ordered preventive prison while the Fiscalía Especializada en materia de Derechos Humanos continues its investigation.
- The Gendarmería was created in 2014 inside the then Policía Federal to provide proximity policing and protect economic activity, and Campos served as a senior commander in that unit.
- Separately, the Navy reported a joint operation in Manzanillo, Colima, that recovered 268 packages totaling 270 kilos of cocaine and put two migrants found aboard the vessel at the authorities’ disposal.
- Prosecutors have opened a formal inquiry that could lead to further charges or detentions, and the limited public detail about the victim means families and observers will watch the investigation’s next steps closely.