Sheinbaum disputes threat link after Nayarit aircraft crash

Reporting and context

President Claudia Sheinbaum said on October 7 that Mexico’s Security Cabinet had no information linking threats against Nayarit Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro Quintero to the crash of an aircraft he sometimes used. She said the aircraft suffered a malfunction, while Nayarit authorities have said they are investigating whether the incident could have been an attack.

According to Infobae México, Sheinbaum rejected the possibility that the crash itself was evidence of an attack and said the federal security authorities had no information connecting it to the governor. The aircraft went down on October 4 in the municipality of Ixtlán del Río, killing two people. Nayarit Attorney General Elvia Ludmila Heredia Verdugo said investigators could not rule out that Navarro had been the intended target because he occasionally used the flight, and she referred the case to the federal Attorney General’s Office.

Infobae México reported that Heredia also said authorities had arrested an alleged Jalisco New Generation Cartel operator known as “Talibán II.” Five cellphones seized from that person allegedly contained details about the governor’s flights, aircraft registrations, schedules and passenger names. Investigators also detected what authorities described as planning for an attack on Navarro and Heredia near the Tepic-Compostela highway. Navarro said threats began after his administration recovered 750 hectares in the Nuevo Nayarit operation, reversing what he described as a 50 billion-peso land loss. He has also referred to narcomantas and other threats, while the allegations remain part of ongoing investigations.