Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office Suspected in Oil Tycoon Kidnapping

The kidnapping of oil businessman Luis Carlos Vizcarra Millán by an armed group, which occurred on November 20 in this city, has exposed the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office for obstructing the clarification of bank transfers of at least 360 million pesos from the victim’s accounts, operations carried out from Playa del Carmen by an alleged organized crime cell.

Vizcarra Millán, a Tamaulipas native who obtained multimillion-dollar contracts from Pemex during the six-year terms of Enrique Peña Nieto and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, via the Mexican firm Perfolat, was deprived of his liberty in the exclusive Allegranza subdivision of this Quintana Roo city, where he lived, with a low profile, with his family.

He also maintained a close relationship and business relationship with Amilcar Olan Aparicio, a close friend of Andrés López Beltrán, with whom he carried out the purchase and sale of valuable land in the capital of Tabasco.

The investigations have been marked by obstruction by the state prosecutor’s office, which, instead of naming family members as victims in the nearly three months since the disappearance, has initiated a campaign of persecution aimed at creating “scapegoats . “

On November 20, 2024, a commando of eight people broke into Vizcarra Millán’s Playas home, where he was accompanied by his partner and his two minor children.

They were all held for several days in the same house, with no one supposedly noticing the emergency.

Tortured in front of his children, the businessman was forced to contact the management of one of his companies located in Tabasco to order various bank transfers to 10 unknown companies, the total amount of which is 360 million 888 thousand 667 pesos, according to financial documents obtained by the magazine Proceso.

Among the companies that benefited from this alleged illegality is Desarrollo 1540, a commercial company that in 2020 was accused of delays in the delivery of luxury apartments in a building that was built near the center of Playa del Carmen.

For four days, the businessman and his partner suffered acts of extreme violence, according to the testimony of their minor children.
On the fifth day, they were both taken from their home and apparently driven to Cancun in a van that they owned.

The Honda vehicle was later found in the Villas Otoch neighborhood of that city, near the municipal detention center known as “El Torito ,” according to the complaint filed by the family.

Since then, the whereabouts of Luis Carlos Vizcarra Millán and his partner have not been known.

Investigation hampered

On the morning of November 26, Vizcarra Millán’s family had the first indication of what hours later was confirmed: the businessman’s disappearance.

However, this would also lead to the obstruction of the criminal investigation by the State Prosecutor’s Office.

The criminal investigation not only seeks to clarify the whereabouts of the victims, but also the destination of more than 360 million pesos transferred to 10 companies other than the kidnapped man.

A Cancun police report indicated the discovery of the Honda pickup truck with a phone number inside, which was used to contact the family. That was one of many irregularities, since the number found in the vehicle was never displayed.

According to suspicions from relatives recorded in ministerial documents from the FGR, the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office already had that number.

On November 26, the relatives went to the businessman’s house after a message from the neighbors pointing out the open doors of the house. The relatives still did not know that the kidnapping had occurred.

The minor children were discovered locked in a bedroom, and they recounted part of the terror they experienced. Based on the accounts, the disappearance of the businessman and his partner was confirmed.

Both of them, following the acts of torture against their parents, have been left with serious after-effects, according to the files provided by the family.

For this case, the investigation file FGE/QROO/CAN/UPD/11/373/2024, known as the “oil case” , was integrated .

The name of the case raised suspicions against the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office, since the ministerial agents already knew about the businesses the victim was involved in, even though the family had not yet provided such information.

In this case, the collaboration of the Tabasco Prosecutor’s Office has come to light, since it was in that entity where the bank transfers were made, always ordered from Playa del Carmen by Vizcarra Millán when he was in captivity.

Carlos Vizcarra Ortiz, the victim’s oldest son from a first marriage, joined the investigation of the case. When the kidnapping occurred, he was in Mérida, Yucatán.

However, he has been summoned through intermediaries, and not in a formal manner as established by the National Code of Criminal Procedure, to an interview before the Tabasco Prosecutor’s Office ordered by the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office.

In response to this, Vizcarra Ortíz has repeatedly asked the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office to recognize him as the victim, a status that corresponds to him in light of the disappearance of his father, the main victim.

The Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office, through the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Kidnapping and Extortion Crimes, headed by Emanuel González Juan, has refused to grant such legal recognition.

On the contrary, the prosecution insisted on the son’s personal appearance before the social representation for an interview. Carlos Vizcarra suspected that it was to arrest him and thus fabricate evidence to incriminate him.

Instead, he sought to send the written interview, which the prosecutor in charge of the case refused to receive. He later stated before the FGR:

I openly indicated to Mr. Emanuel that it seemed that he had a line and that was the reason why he did not receive my documents, and he did not answer; I asked him to give me
the documents at that moment, and he did not answer; I asked him to give me the summons at that moment and he refused.

The FGR takes over the case

Following these events involving the integration of the case file for the investigation, Carlos Vizcarra, along with another of his brothers, requested the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to take over the case, last December, and asked that the Quintana Roo Attorney General’s Office refrain from continuing with the investigation.

In addition to the obstruction of the investigation, he said that they were only looking to obtain the tokens with which the million-dollar transfers were carried out.

At the end of December, the FGR took over the case and created an investigation file under the responsibility of the Federal Ministerial Police’s Unit to Combat the Crime of Kidnapping.

This body has already requested various reports from the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office regarding the kidnapping, since it is presumed that organized crime operating in Playa del Carmen is behind the kidnapping and the theft of millions of dollars.

Although new investigations suggest that high-ranking officials and politicians related to Quintana Roo Attorney General Raciel López could also be involved, this investigation, which is included in official documents from federal authorities, could not be expanded or officially confirmed.

Likewise, complaints about the poor performance of the local prosecutor’s office were filed with its internal control body and complaints were directed to the National Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Commission of Quintana Roo, according to consulted documents.

Given the possibility that the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office would carry out discretionary acts of detention against Carlos Vizcarra (son) , he filed an injunction against the deprivation of his liberty.

The Third District Court of Cancun granted a provisional suspension against any act of authority against him, according to file 1262/2024 of the appeal filed. The various authorities identified as responsible, both in Quintana Roo and Tabasco, have denied having any arrest warrant against the complainant.

However, the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office has not responded to the reports within the trial, according to what the legal team advising Carlos Vizcarra told this reporter, which is why suspicions of a probable arbitrary detention are growing.

Next week will mark three months since the case was handled in complete secrecy by local ministerial authorities.

Carlos Vizcarra’s legal team says they have already informed Raciel López Salazar, Attorney General of Quintana Roo, of the serious situation; however, they have not received a response either.

In Playa del Carmen, where the kidnapping of the businessman and his partner occurred, the mayor, Estefanía Mercado Asencio, agreed in August 2024 with the prosecutor, before taking office, a zero impunity agreement in an attempt to reduce the levels of violence, which has not ceased for two municipal administrations.

Thus, almost three months have passed since the disappearance of oil businessman Luis Carlos Vizcarra Millán, who was kidnapped on November 20 in the Allegranza subdivision.
His family is still without answers, while the investigations have been marked by irregularities and omissions by the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office.

During his captivity, Vizcarra Millán was allegedly tortured in front of his children and forced to transfer more than 360 million pesos to unknown companies in Tabasco and the Caribbean. His partner was also a victim of violence before being transferred with him to an unknown destination. The van in which they were allegedly taken appeared days later in Cancún.

State authorities have been questioned for their actions in the case. Instead of recognizing the relatives as victims, the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office has named Carlos Vizcarra Ortiz, the businessman’s son, as a suspect. Given the lack of progress and the alleged fabrication of evidence, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) took over the investigation.

Ministry documents reveal that the Tabasco Prosecutor’s Office is also involved, since the multimillion-dollar transfers were made from that entity.

Vizcarra Millán’s family denounced that state prosecutors have obstructed the case and are seeking to divert attention from those really responsible.

With the criminals allegedly identified and the FGR in charge of the investigation, the relatives demand justice and the location of the businessman. Meanwhile, uncertainty and fear persist among his loved ones.