Fausto Corrales Arrested in Connection with the Kidnapping of “El Mayo” and Coverup of Hector Cuen Ojeda’s Murder

“Socalj” for Borderland Beat

According to federal investigations, Fausto Corrales allegedly accompanied Héctor Cuen Ojeda to a meeting where Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was kidnapped.

The FGR’s arrest statement contains; “in compliance with an arrest warrant issued by a federal control judge, for his probable involvement in the crimes of covering up the murder of Héctor Cuen Ojeda, which occurred in Culiacán, Sinaloa, as well as making false statements to law enforcement authorities.” Corrales was arrested in Miguel Hidalgo CDMX today.

The meeting on July 25, 2024 was set supposedly to help mediate a political rivalry between Héctor Melesio Cuén Ojeda and then Governor Ruben Rocha Moya. Corrales allegedly drove Cuen to the meeting to meet with Rocha and “El Mayo.”

A major point of the alleged dispute was who would be next rector for the UAS or Autonomous University of Sinaloa, a position that both Cuen and Corrales’ father, Víctor Antonio Corrales Burgueño, had held prior to their leading the Sinaloa Party (PAS).

The meeting was actually a trap by Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the sons of “El Chapo” to lure Zambada to be kidnapped and taken to the United States where Joaquin surrendered to US authorities and the FBI, who arrested “El Mayo” as he came off of the plane.

Then Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya was believed to have never attended any meeting, instead he was in Los Angeles, California for a baseball game with his family and another politician that day.

Fausto Corrales accompanied Héctor Melesio Cuén Ojeda at the time of his murder and who, according to the Sinaloa Prosecutor’s Office, gave the only official version of an alleged attempted robbery at a gas station that resulted in Cuen’s death.

After Cuen’s body was brought to the hospital Fausto Corrales told the state prosecutor that he had been Cuén Ojeda’s driver that day to take him to a meeting with “lawyers,” who did not show up.

Cuen’s Murder Coverup

The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said that the version of events by its counterpart in Sinaloa regarding the murder of the former rector of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Héctor Cuén Ojeda, “is not acceptable.”

Since August 15, 2024 the FGR stated that when reviewing the investigation file initiated by the Sinaloa Prosecutor’s Office for the murder of Cuén, it found various inconsistencies between the evidence and the statements of local authorities.

Fausto was the primary source of information that the Sinaloa authorities based their reports on, and claimed to have backed the witness’ statement with video evidence.

Recently, a fire damaging 40 vehicles broke out at the impound lot the Ford Ranger Raptor was initially located at. The truck had already been moved to a different lot before the fire occured.

“Fausto Corrales reportedly stated that he and Héctor Melesio Cuén were waiting for lawyers in the rural Condado de San Francisco, near La Presita, from the morning of July 25 until late at night, and that when they did not arrive, they returned to the city of Culiacán, and that on the way they stopped at a gas station to fill up with fuel,” the Sinaloa state prosecution indicated.

Fausto claimed that he drove Cuen to a meeting with lawyers who never showed, then when they stopped to fuel up, Cuen was shot in the leg after a failed carjacking was attempted by two men on motorcycle. Fausto then drove Cuen to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

In this regard, Quiñonez Estrada said that the initial statement given by Corrales was “taken into account,” in which he stressed “that they wanted to steal the vehicle” and said that “it cannot be overlooked” that Cuén was shot in the legs and not in the head if the intention was to take his life. But, FGR reported that the autopsy shows he also had a large bruise to his head which could not be explained by the claim put forth by Sinaloan authorities. This resulted in the resignation of the state’s prosecutor over the mishandling of the case.

The FGR reported a lack of proper records of cadaver temperature and other crucial signs that would have led to questioning the version of events and timing of the shooting that Fausto reported.

Sinaloa authorities revealed a video recording on August 12, alleging that the attack against Cuén could be seen.

“The information about what happened at a gas station in the municipality of Culiacán is not acceptable, nor does it have reliable evidence that would allow it to be taken into account,” the FGR said. The FGR denies that the data provided by its counterpart in Sinaloa can be used for investigations. The Sinaloa authorities maintained that the main line of investigation was a vehicle theft.

Journalist Ismael Bojórquez, from Ríodoce, called attention to the fact that in the video released by the prosecution “there are no [flashes] or flashes like those emitted by a firearm when fired in the dark.”

He mentions that, according to what was reported by the prosecution on July 29, four days after the crime, “Fausto Corrales would have declared that Héctor Melesio Cuén and he were from the morning of July 25 until late at night, waiting for some lawyers in the rural Condado de San Francisco, near La Presita, and when they did not arrive, they returned to the city of Culiacán, and that on the way they stopped at a gas station to fill up with fuel.”

However, the video “shows that, in reality, the truck in which Cuén and Fausto were traveling was not coming from north to south, but from south to north; that is, it was not coming from the rural San Francisco County —although they had been there before—, but was going from Culiacán to the north.”

As federal authorities began investigating Cuen’s death following statements made by “El Mayo,” they searched his home and sought to re-question him stating, “That is why we consider it necessary to summon witness Fausto Ernesto Corrales again to expand on his statement, since it was reported in the media that the author of a certain letter placed the teacher in Huertos del Pedregal and said that he was accompanied by his assistant, which gives us the idea that he could have been the reference witness and therefore did not stay alone in Condado de San Francisco as he initially said.”