Cab Driver and Retired Teacher Kidnapped in Veracruz Died of Torture, Attorney General’s Office Determines

Although on July 28, 2025, Norma Rocío Nahle García—governor of Veracruz since December 1, 2024, and a Morena member—insisted that, “whether they like it or not,” Irma Hernández Cruz—a retired teacher and taxi driver in Álamo Temapache, whose body was found on the 24th of the same month and year at a ranch located 40 kilometers from the municipality of Tuxpan, after being kidnapped by an organized crime group for not paying an extortion payment—had died of a heart attack, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) confirmed on August 11, 2025, that the woman died from torture.

“The charges [against the four detainees] were made taking into account that the abduction of the victim, who was over 60 years old, was carried out by two or more people, violently and with the purpose of obtaining a benefit […] Her health was affected by the aggression, torture, and violence inflicted during her captivity, which caused her death,” said Verónica Hernández Giadáns, head of the Veracruz Prosecutor’s Office, during a press conference.

Irma Hernández Cruz, a 62-year-old retired teacher and taxi driver, was kidnapped and murdered in the municipality of Álamo Temapache, Veracruz, after refusing to pay a fee demanded by alleged members of the Veracruz Mafia, according to a report by the State Attorney General’s Office on July 24, 2025.

Hernández Cruz was kidnapped on July 18, 2025, on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Street, in front of the Álamo Temapache Municipal Market, 40 kilometers from the port of Tuxpan. A group of armed men abducted her in broad daylight, according to local witnesses. Her body was found in the early morning of July 24, on a ranch between the communities of Tepetzintlilla and Buenos Aires, on the border of the municipality of Cerro Azul.

Hours after her kidnapping, Hernández Cruz appeared in a video released in the region. In the recording, the victim is seen kneeling, surrounded by at least 12 armed and hooded individuals.

“My name is Irma Hernández Cruz, I drive taxi 554. Fellow taxi drivers, don’t play with the Veracruz Mafia. Pay your dues properly and stop messing around with the opposition, who only extort you or you’ll end up like me,” the woman stated, clearly under pressure from her captors.

On July 18, 2025, the State Commission for the Search for Persons issued a missing persons file with the number 25/CI 0358U-25ZN to locate Hernández Cruz. The FGE, headed by Verónica Hernández Giadans, reported on July 24, 2025, during the State Coordination Roundtable for Peacebuilding and Security, that an investigation file had been opened to clarify the events and find those responsible.

“The State Attorney General’s Office states that there will be no impunity in this case and that the law will be followed to the fullest extent of the law,” the FGE said in a statement. Hernández Cruz, a former teacher in School Zone 041, worked as a taxi driver for vehicle number 554 following her retirement.

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, Cartel Insider