La Barredora Infiltrated the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), Tabasco Investigation Reveals

Tabasco authorities explained that there was support from a man known only as Rosete, nicknamed “El Yanqui” (The Yankee), who was a member of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).

La Barredora

The criminal group La Barredora allegedly infiltrated the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), because according to their counterpart in Tabasco, an official from that agency was providing them with assistance.

Three hours and 28 minutes were enough for the Tabasco Attorney General’s Office to uncover one of the most shocking scandals, not only recounting the alleged kidnapping of a businessman, but also displaying five Army reports that revealed that Hernán Bermúdez Requena, known as “El Abuelo,” was likely the leader of La Barredora.

‘El Yanqui’, from the Attorney General’s Office, allegedly supported La Barredora

MILENIO had access to the hearing in which local prosecutors described before Control Judge Ramón Adolfo Brown Ruiz how La Barredora took control of crime and how he formed alliances with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

The prosecutors explained that there was support from a man known only as Rosete, nicknamed El Yanqui, who was a member of the Attorney General’s Office.

The court file includes five intelligence reports prepared between 2019 and 2022 by the 30th Military Zone and the Southeast Regional Intelligence Fusion Center (Cerfi), which document alleged ties between Bermúdez Requena and El Pelón de Playas, a criminal boss in the municipality of Centro, Tabasco, involved in extortion, kidnapping, vehicle theft, and drug trafficking.

“…at the end of 2017, the criminal group now known as La Barredora was formed, comprised, for example, of Hernán Bermúdez Requena, alias El Abuelo, also known as Rosete, who is known as El Yankee of the Attorney General’s Office; and Carlos Tomás Díaz Rodríguez, alias El Tomacín; Ulises Pinto Madera, alias El Mamado or El Pinto.

“Trinidad Alberto de la Cruz Miranda, alias El Pelón de Playas; Daniel Hernández Montejo, alias El Prada; “Savier Eduardo or Javier Eduardo Vásquez Orellana and Manuel de Atocha Romero Hernández, who formed this association, had the criminal purpose of controlling hydrocarbon trafficking, fuel theft, extortion, and kidnapping…” said Prosecutor Mixdally Lizbeth Álvarez Isidro.

At the private hearing held on the evening of 18 February this year to request an arrest warrant for Bermúdez Requena, the prosecutor assured the judge that investigations indicated that La Barredora’s actions favoured the CJNG, with the protection of a police network led by the then Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Tabasco, Hernán Bermúdez, illegal activities that were carried out throughout the state, until the confrontation between El Tomacín, El Prada and El Mamado.

Criminal case 212/2025 was brought to court following a complaint filed by businessman Ramón Martínez Armengol, owner of the ParaGas gas station in Villahermosa. He claimed to have been the victim of extortion, robbery, and express kidnapping by members of that group.

In his testimony, Martínez Armengol recounted that, starting in November 2018, he had been threatened with selling stolen gasoline (huachicol). When he refused, armed individuals forced him to accept illegal fuel tankers and later kidnapped and beat him for two days. Under death threats, he and his wife were forced to sign a power of attorney that handed over the management of their gas station to Manuel de Atocha Romero.

The victim recounted that when he tried to regain control of the business through legal proceedings, the then-Secretary of Security, Hernán Bermúdez Requena, not only refused to support him, but, according to the complaint, his law firm, Palavicini Bermúdez Requena, filed a third-party lawsuit to stop the judicial eviction ordering the eviction of the squatters.

“(Hernán) Bermúdez told me he would help me, but that I had to give him half of the gas station,” Martínez Armengol testified before the prosecutor’s office.

Bermúdez recruited members of La Barredora after taking office in Tabasco

Judge Brown Ruiz considered that the evidence presented presumes Bermúdez Requena’s responsibility.

Among them is an analysis by the State Attorney General’s Intelligence Directorate that describes Bermúdez Requena as El Abuelo or El Comandante H, the alleged protector of the La Barredora organization, linked to the CJNG and the successor to Los Panteras, former Los Zetas operatives in the region.

That report, dated February 17, 2025, indicates that Bermúdez maintained a financial partnership and possible money laundering operations with El Tomacín, through companies such as Consorcio Crismar S.A. de C.V. and the law firm Palavicini y Asociados, located in Villahermosa.

Similarly, upon assuming the position of Secretary of Public Security, Bermúdez incorporated members of La Barredora as bodyguards and intelligence operatives, including Ulises Pinto, who was the head of his bodyguards and the alleged operational leader of the group.

The court file also includes five intelligence reports prepared by the Army.

One of those reports, dated October 2021, identifies him as a “ghost operator for the CJNG in the southeast of the country,” involved in migrant smuggling and protecting local criminal groups. Another report from August 2022 identifies him as a protector of the La Barredora group, along with Benjamín Mollinedo Montiel, known as El Pantera.

It was also revealed that, in December 2023, gunshots were reported outside Bermúdez Requena’s home in the Campestre neighborhood of Villahermosa. According to the analysis, this was part of internal disputes between the criminal group’s factions.

Sources: Milenio, Cartel Insider