Caborca Cartel Hitman Arrested in Yucatán Triple Homicide

Mérida, Yucatán — Yucatán police arrested Donato Valdés Rodríguez, alias “Don Nato,” a high-ranking hitman for the Caborca Cartel, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Authorities have linked him to a triple execution that occurred last Monday in Dzilam González.

The arrest of one of the primary targets for Quintana Roo authorities took place in Mérida, Yucatán, in the Tixcacal-Opichén subdivision at 03:24 hours on Tuesday morning, according to the National Registry of Detentions.

On Wednesday, the facilities of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), located in the security complex in the Yucatecan capital, were guarded by heavily armed agents from the Secretariat of Public Security, including the vehicle used for special operations known as “El Black Mamba.”

In efforts to clarify the executions from last Monday, agents from the State Investigative Police (PEI) and the FGE have been conducting a search in Dzilam González since this morning to recover the vehicles in which the hitmen fled and later abandoned in a vacant lot.

Donato Valdés Rodríguez is a high-ranking gunman for the Caborca Cartel, which operates in the municipalities of Bacalar, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, and José María Morelos. The cartel is currently led by Israel Rodríguez Interian, alias “El Racho,” a zone commander close to the leader of the criminal organization, José Gil Caro Quintero.

On New Year’s Eve, the son of Jacobo Rodríguez Interian, Israel’s brother, who was detained in Mérida, implicated Don Nato in executions and corpse disappearances for the Caborca Cartel in a complaint made on social media.

It is worth recalling that in December of last year alone, 70 people were reported missing in municipalities in central and southern Quintana Roo.

The detention of Don Nato was officially registered at 3:24 a.m. on January 6 in the Tixcacal-Opichén subdivision, in western Mérida, according to the National Registry of Detentions.

However, unofficial sources indicate that the arrest initially occurred in Dzilam González, where authorities held the suspect for several hours before transferring him to the Yucatecan capital. Following the capture, the facilities of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) in Mérida were fortified by SSP elements in an operation that included reinforced surveillance to prevent possible reactions.

As previously reported, the triple homicide that left Juan Carlos Valdez G. (22 years old, alias “Nato”), Ariel K. R. (15 years old), and Luis Kuk T. (30 years old, known as “Gary,” who died hours later in a Mérida hospital) as victims was perpetrated on a property where the former bullring is located in the El Taiwán neighborhood, a property associated with the Valdez Rodríguez family.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the primary target was “Don Nato,” the alleged leader of a criminal cell, but when they did not find him, the attackers targeted his son and employees present.

The Valdez Rodríguez family originated from the community of Limones in the municipality of Bacalar, Quintana Roo, where they resided until approximately six months ago when they moved to Yucatán, along with the Rodríguez Interian family, to begin dominating the Yucatecan coast and initiate drug shipments in ports on the eastern coast of Yucatán.

The versions about the attacks that occurred in Dzilam González on January 6 occur in the context of score-settling among members of the Caborca Cartel cell led by the Interian Rodríguez brothers. Some sources have mentioned that the attack occurred as revenge for the detention of Jacobo Interian at the beginning of December in Mérida, Yucatán, as previously reported in Diario CAMBIO 22; however, this version has not been officially confirmed.

His son “Nato” would have acted as a logistical operator in that structure.

Following the attack, a Code Red was declared in Yucatán, with massive operations on highways and coastal municipalities such as Dzilam de Bravo and Yalsihón, including searches on neighboring ranches up to the city of Mérida, Yucatán.

So far, the direct perpetrators of the multiple homicide, who reportedly fled to Dzilam de Bravo and may have escaped by sea, have not been detained.