This Is The Church That El Lazca, Leader Of Los Zetas, Built In Hidalgo And Where They Celebrate Him Every Candlemas Day.

Mica for cartelinsider.com

An enormous steel cross welcomes the residents of the El Tezontle neighborhood in the city of Pachuca, Hidalgo. It is the entrance to the Church of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos, but also a reminder of the “good deeds” carried out by drug traffickers. The temple was built by Heriberto Lazcano, also known as “El Lazca”, who is remembered and commemorated every February 2nd, Day of the Candelaria.

The two gates behind the cross are decorated each Candlemas day with floral arrangements, a photograph of the ruthless leader of Los Zetas, and the name of Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, allegedly killed on October 7, 2012 after a confrontation with the Mexican Army in Progreso, Coahuila.

The church was built by order of the drug lord in the year 2010, its location was chosen based on the 15 years he lived in the region after emigrating from the state of Veracruz and before traveling to Tamaulipas to join the ranks of the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.

“El Lazca” would have served in the Mexican Army for eight years, reaching the rank of corporal. However, he decided to join the elite group that would protect Osiel Cárdenas, the leader of the Gulf Cartel at the time, and later formed his own criminal organization under the name of Los Zetas.

In addition to the church that stands in the center of Pachuca, the former leader of Los Zetas, accused of eating and forcing his subordinates to eat their rivals, also built a mausoleum to be buried in when his criminal life came to an end.

However, 11 years after his death, the tomb that also guards a small metal cross similar to the one in the church remains empty. The reason: the body of “El Z-3” or “The Executioner”, as he was also known, was stolen from the funeral home after his murder.

The official version is that an armed commando entered the funeral home during the night of October 7th, 2012 and forced the owner of the establishment to load the body of “El Lazca” into a truck and drive to the border with Nuevo León, where another vehicle took the deceased criminal.

Although the then Attorney General’s Office (PGR) took photos of the body of “El Lazca”, performed DNA tests, and took fingerprints to confirm his identity, the rumor that he was not the former leader of Los Zetas spread like wildfire.

On Candlemas Day of the year 2022, the magazine Proceso remembered Andres Torres, the caretaker of the San Francisco ejidal cemetery, where the mausoleum that “El Lazca” had built for his eternal rest is located.

The guardian had narrated that since 2013 every February 2nd, he had been waiting for the bloodthirsty drug lord to appear in the church he had ordered to be built. He also stayed in his tomb to be informed about his whereabouts, as it was believed that his death was faked.

At 75 years of age, Don Andrés remembered the childhood of the narco who was killed in 2012: “He was fair-skinned, skinny, I remember him well because he used to go around with me herding the sheep,” he told the media before his death on June 7, 2021.

This Friday will commemorate another year of Candlemas Day and the church of “El Lazca” is already preparing for the celebration that, like every year, will take place in the temple. Although the arrival of the drug lord or Don Andrés is not expected, it is expected that the Lazcano Lazcano family will sponsor the festivities and send a floral arrangement to remember the drug lord who helped their community with the paving of streets and the construction of a sanctuary for their Catholic devotion.

Thanks for reading!

Mica

Email: mica@cartelinsider.com

Follow: https://twitter.com/cartelinsider1