VZCZCXRO7091
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHMC #0018/01 0142224
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 142224Z JAN 09
FM AMCONSUL MONTERREY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3420
INFO RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 4465
RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USNORTHCOM
RUEHMC/AMCONSUL MONTERREY 8964

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTERREY 000018 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/14/2019 
TAGS: ASEC SNAR PGOV KCRM ECON MX
SUBJECT: BATISTA KIDNAPPING CASE: LITTLE REAL PROGRESS SO FAR 
 
REF: 2008 MONTERREY 565 
 
MONTERREY 00000018  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Bruce Williamson, Consul General, Monterrey, 
State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
¶1.      (C)  Summary.  Despite widespread publicity and continued 
USG efforts, there has been little progress in resolving the 
December 10 kidnapping of Felix Batista, an Amcit 
anti-kidnapping expert.  Coahuila Governor Humberto Moreira 
Valdes personally assured the Consul General that he would 
provide any requested assistance, telling us that he would 
instruct state Attorney General Jesus Torres Charles to 
cooperate fully with the FBI.  The case had been at a standstill 
as Torres has treated Batista's disappearance as a missing 
persons case and has done a minimal investigation.  Following 
our meeting with the Governor, Moreira shuffled his cabinet, 
increasing Torres' responsibilities.  Torres subsequently met 
with FBI A/Legatt and FBI case officer in charge of the case, at 
which time he released Batista's personal effects (including 
Batista's laptop computer and thumbdrive) and agreed to arrange 
an interview with a key witness.  Separately, FBI has 
interviewed several other witnesses present immediately prior to 
Batista's abduction (these meetings were scheduled prior to the 
session with Governor Moreira).   Given the passage of time, the 
lack of any ransom demand, and indications that the victim was 
kidnapped by drug enforcers (Gulf Cartel Zetas), chances of 
recovering Batista alive are slim.  End Summary. 
 
Background 
 
¶2.    (C)  Batista's friend and colleague Pilar Valdez, longtime 
director for security for the Saltillo Industrial Group (GIS) 
was kidnapped the morning of December 10, and Batista was 
apparently negotiating for Pilar's release when he went to 
dinner on December 10.  Batista received a call, left his 
computer, credit card and cell phone with his dinner companions, 
instructed them to call a number if he did not return, and he 
got into a waiting car outside the restaurant.  Pilar was 
released an hour later, but there has been no subsequent contact 
with Batista or his apparent kidnappers (see reftel). 
Subsequent statements by Valdez to the FBI indicate that his 
abductors believed that Batista had been passing information on 
the drug cartels to Mexican federal law enforcement authorities. 
 
Meeting with the Governor 
 
¶3.    (C)  On January 9 the Consul General and Consular Chief 
met with Coahuila Governor Humberto Moreira.  Moreira stated his 
willingness to help, noting that the widespread publicity about 
the case was harming Coahuila's image.  Indeed, on the security 
front Moreira said that the USG was the only institution that he 
fully trusted.  Governor Moreira then ushered Attorney General 
Jesus Torres Charles into the meeting, repeating for Torres' 
benefit his determination to solve the case and his offers of 
cooperation. 
 
¶4.   (C)  Later that day, Governor Moreira shuffled his cabinet, 
giving Attorney General Torres control of both the Attorney 
General's office and the Secretariat of Public Security, and 
relegating Secretary of Public Security Fausto Destenave Kuri, a 
former federal prosecutor, to the State Commission on Water and 
Sewage.  As reported in reftel, Secretary Destenave, Torres' 
bureaucratic rival, had been very helpful in informally 
providing the Consulate with videotapes from the restaurant 
outside of which Batista was abducted and copies of Batista's 
papers and notes.  Although several of Destenave's subordinates 
remain at present, the Governor placed a Torres loyalist, 
Alfredo Udave Davila, as the new Secretary of Public Security 
and Torres oversees the office. 
 
¶5.   (C)   On January 12, Consulate A/Legat, TDY FBI case 
officer, and Conoff met with the newly-empowered Attorney 
General Torres and Acting Secretary Udave to test the Governor's 
earlier statements.  Torres released Batista's personal effects, 
including his computer and thumb drives, which the FBI will 
analyze for leads.  Torres also agreed to arrange for a formal 
interview with Pilar Valdez, although given Torres' earlier 
unwillingness to do so, Post officials had already gone ahead 
and previously met with Valdez unofficially. 
 
Federal or State Jurisdiction? 
 
¶6.    (C)  It is possible that the Batista case will be 
federalized, which may or may not result in a more complete 
investigation.  Mexican federal government officials claimed in 
the press that they could not bring the case to the federal 
level because the family had not filed a complaint.  However, in 
the January 13 edition of the leading Monterrey newspaper El 
Norte, Batista's wife said that she had filed a complaint with 
the Mexican Consulate in Miami on December 24 and had been told 
that the compliant would be forwarded and filed.  However, due 
to employee vacations, she alleges that the Consulate did not 
 
MONTERREY 00000018  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
forward the complaint to San Antonio until January 11 and the 
complaint still had not been filed as of January 12.   GOM 
embarrassment of the mishandling of the complaint could prompt 
it to move the case to a federal level, but it is not clear if 
that would resolve the case faster.  The federal police would 
need to start a police investigation without local knowledge 
more than a month after the crime. 
EDWARDS