Michoacán's prosecutor, Carlos Torres Piña, disclosed investigation details into the murder of Bernardo Bravo Manríquez, president of the Apatzingán Valley Citrus Growers Association. Two phone numbers with which he exchanged messages and calls before his death are under analysis. The crime is linked to the criminal cell Los Blancos de Troya.
Bernardo Bravo Manríquez, a lime producer leader in Apatzingán Valley, was murdered in a case that has outraged agricultural producers in Tierra Caliente, Michoacán. According to authorities' timeline, Bravo left Morelia around 2:00 p.m. in a white Tiguan SUV with one of his bodyguards. The vehicle was detected by highway checkpoints and arrived in Apatzingán near 4:30 p.m.
At the Lime Market, Bravo switched to a gray Toyota pickup and parted ways with his bodyguard, saying they would meet later. The bodyguard returned to Pátzcuaro with the Tiguan, while Bravo headed to the Cenobio Moreno community, where he had lime orchards, and possibly to San José de los Plátanos, the area where prosecutors suspect the homicide occurred. Of his three assigned bodyguards, only one was on duty that day; the other two were off.
Prosecutor Carlos Torres Piña confirmed that Bravo's phone records are being reviewed. “We are reviewing his telephony, the traceability. We have two numbers located there with whom he shared messages and calls, and that's what we are investigating. We are seeking the locations and also if they moved at different times during the route,” he explained in an interview with Azucena Uresti.
Bravo's vehicle was found abandoned with the engine running on the Apatzingán–Presa del Rosario route, in the La Tinaja or Los Tepetates communities. His body was in the driver's seat, showing signs of violence and torture; the autopsy determined the cause of death was a gunshot to the head.
“He arrives at the San José de los Plátanos community, that's where we have that review, which is what we are cross-checking to clarify the fact more and the place where (they might have) taken his life,” the prosecutor commented. The murder is linked to Los Blancos de Troya, allegedly led by César Arellano Sepúlveda, alias ‘El Bótox,’ responsible for extortion, kidnappings, and murders against lime and avocado producers. Bravo had recently denounced these extortions, sparking outrage in the agricultural sector.