Home » » "El Pozolero": A legacy of death by Tijuana´s "Soup maker".(Interview included)
Translated by Tijuano for Borderland Beat.
Special thanks to Chivis Martinez for pointing out the video.
El Universal.
Santiago Meza Lopez, aka "El Pozolero"(Soup maker)
It was January 23rd, That day Santiago MezaLopez didn´t care about being seen crying, neither did he care that tens ofnews reporters, soldiers and curious people wanted to take pictures of him, orask him how he made “El pozole”(Mexican meat soup), or how much the Sinaloacartel paid him. He only cared about God´s forgiveness.
Santiago, one of the FBI´s most wanted drug dealers,could barely open his eyes: the beating he received when he was arrested leavedhis face swollen. Crying was hurtful, but the cocaine dose he had inside madeit bearable.
By that Friday´s mid-day, inside Tijuana´s militarybase, in Tijuana, the detainee begged constantly “Please, forgive me…”.
Meza Lopez was asking indulgence from the relatives ofall the people he dissolved during nine years, first under the orders of theArellano Felix cartel, then under those of the Sinaloa cartel when El Teoswitched sides.
“El Pozolero”(The soup maker), that´s how he wascalled inside the organization, because he was in charge of getting rid of thebodies of the war that was being fought in Tijuana over the drug routes towardsthe United States.
Some people say Santiago was crying because he didn´tbelieve he was guilty, he thought life put him there and that was the jobintended for him. He claimed he wasn´t a killer, he wasn´t a kidnapper, hedidn´t saw himself as a drug dealer.
Soldiers remember that when he was arrested, in hisway from Ensenada to Tijuana, he kept praying out loud. He asked God forforgiveness. “Sorry, sorry” was heard inside the Humvee in which he was movedto Tijuana.
"El Pozolero" leaving one of the properties where he dumped remains.
Little was known about “El Pozolero” in the following4 years, until the end of 2012, when the Attorney General´s Sub-office forSpecialized Investigations of Organized Crime ( Sub-procuraduria Especializadaen Investigacion de la Delincuencia Organizada, SIEDO) decided to revive thecase, sending a group of specialists to Tijuana with the mission of finding theremains of those who were dissolved in acid. Then his statement came to thepublic lights.
He was caught in the kitchen
Inside the Federal Attorney General´s office(ProcuraduriaGeneral de la Republica, PGR) people remember that the Public Ministry waitedanxiously. Arriving to their building was a hit man who –they were told- haddissolved more than 300 bodies in acid.
When Santiago Meza arrived, he wasn´t what theyexpected, a short man made his appearance, with a well cut moustache. He wasshacking and had trouble breathing and moving.
“El Pozolero”, a 36 year old native of Guamuchil,Sinaloa, worked for the “big guys” since he was 19. He started as aconstruction man for the drug dealers that operated in the border. Then hestarted working full time for the Arellano Felix family, one of the biggestcartels in Mexico.
According to what he said that night in the PGR, beingloyal and hardworking made him get promoted, he became office keeper. Drugoffice keepers take care of the drug depot´s surveillance.
There´s where he met his boss: Teodoro GarciaSimental, aka “El Teo”, considered by some reports as one of the most ruthlessand bloodthirsty hit men ever. When “El Teo” began his fight against FernandoSanchez Arellano and chose to betray him, “El Pozolero” also switched sides: hebecame an ally of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera.
Santiago was captured soon. It was a party night inEnsenada, inside Baja Season´s hotel. When the army arrived, Meza couldn´tescape, he was so intoxicated he couldn´t even run.They got him making seafood.
Baja Season Hotel, home of the last party of "El Pozolero"
The recipe came from Israel
In January 25th, 2009, Santiago Meza Lopezshared his recipe to make “Pozole”, it include two empty oil barrels, severalpounds of caustic soda, latex gloves, gas masks, and a pair of “teachers”,supposedly brought from Israel.
Authorities mention that somewhere around 2000, theArellano Felix brothers decided to use new methods to get rid of their enemies.Before they just dumped the bodies in the sewers or the city river, but it wasdangerous and someone could catch them.
Benjamin and Ramon Arellano Felix.
They decided to bring to people from Israel who knewhow to dissolve corpses in acid. They trained a group of men, includingSantiago, who in those days used to take care of drugs that were to be smuggledto the United Stated.
Santiago gave details, he began by buying theempty oil barrels, then he dumped about 100 pounds “powder” which he bought ina hardware store, in the Mariano Matamoros colony, east side of Tijuana. Thepounds of “powder” were caustic soda, which he bought at a price of roughly 1.5dollars a pound.
“The corpses that I was given to make “pozole” were alreadydead; I dumped them complete inside the oil barrels. A lady once asked me thereason why I bought so much caustic soda , I told her I used it to cleanhouses…”, told Santiago Meza.
Santiago was helped by two young men who he identifiedas “El Chalino” and “El Yiyo”, a pair of 25 year olds, who were also born inSinaloa. Both left Guamuchil and arrived at Tijuana with the idea of makinglots of money. The diligence entrusted to them was “to learn how to makepozole…”.
“The way they gave me the corpses was as follows, “ElTeo” would call me and tell me that at a certain hour, in a certain place, Iwas to be given the merchandise. He would call me and tell me that they didn´tknew in which the corpses were being transported. Then they would call me and tellme in which car they were. They would make a light signal and the delivery wasmade”, explained Meza.
Teodoro Garcia Simental aka "El Teo", former boss of "El Pozolero".
Santiago stated that working with caustic soda is nochild´s play. You got to be careful and he always was; He used as protectionlatex gloves and gas masks.
The location was also well chosen: They used a propertylocated in the road to Tecate, a desolated area called “Ojo de Agua”. “There´swhere the “pozole” was dumped, we dumped about 60 corpses”. They also used asmall ranch in the outskirts of Tijuana by the Boulevard 2000.
“But my only task was to get rid of the bodies!”,Santiago made this clear, he even considered this as a normal job, he was paid600 dollars per week and was given the “ingredients” for his “meat soup”.
He wants to leave jail
Fernando Ocegueda Flores, president of the UnitedAssociation for the Disappeared (Asociacion Unidos por los Desaparecidos) saysthat relatives won´t forgive Santiago. They don´t believe in his tears. “He´san evil being, even though Santiago didn´t kill their relatives, they believethat only someone mentally disturbed would desecrate a corpse like that”.continues next page
With a gasped voice, Fernando Ocegueda explains: “Webelieve that his asked for forgiveness because he was still drugged and felt hiswhole world falling apart. When we looked for him, he didn´t want to help, hedidn´t want to tell us where our relatives were buried”.
“El Pozolero” is imprisoned in the El Rincon FederalPrison, in Nayarit, and the only charge against him is for his presumed possessionof illegal firearms.
The Republic´s Attorney General Office said that hiscase is still open, “in process”. However, activists were told that an habeascorpus was promoted this year and that Santiago could be set free in the nextfew months.
“He shouldn´t be free, he must be in jail. The onlything he knows is to make “pozole”, and he´ll be back to his old habits”, saysFernando Oceguera.
Fernando Ocegueda Flores and Mexican poet Javier Sicilia.
The man who dissolved corpses in acid, the same manthat cried that day in January, 2009, has apparently been forgiven by God. Atleast that´s what Rafael Romo Muñoz, Tijuana´s Archbishop, told the media: “Even if he got rid of 300corpses, he still has God´s forgiveness if he is truly sorry. There´s alwaysforgiveness in God, no matter the sin you committed.
3 drums filled with "pozole" left in a Tijuana street, circa 2008
Reporters interview "El Pozolero" while standing above one of the pits used to dump human remains.(Transcription below)
Q: What kind of peopledid you get rid of? A: I didn´t knew what kind of peoplethey were. Q:Were they alreadydead? A: Yes, they were. Q: Did you chop them? A: No, full bodies.
Q: How did you do the“work”?
A: I would just put them in an oilbarrel and the acid dissolved them.
Q: How gave you your“tools”?, How did you get them?
A: I bought it.
Q: Where?
A: Everywhere.
Q: How much time did ittook you to get rid of a body?
A: 24 hrs.
Q: What did you do withthe remains?
A: I used to throw them in a pit.
Q: Mainly, what kind ofpeople did you get rid of?
A: I don´t know.
Q: Woman, children, men?
A: I don´t know what kind of peoplethey were, they gave them to me, I didn´t knew whothey were.
Q: How much did you getpaid?
A: 600 dollars per week.
Q: What kind substancedid you use?
A: Caustic soda.
Q: Who did you work for?
A: El Teo.
Q: Who is he?
A: El Teo, don´t tell me you don´t knowhim.
Q: How did you meet him?
A: I knew him from a log time ago.
Q: Where did you meethim?
A: Here, in Tijuana.
Q: Who introduced him toyou?
A: Nobody, from my job
Q: Where did you workbefore?
A: In construction.
Q: Where there 300bodies just from last year?
A: About 300, more or less.
Q: Once theydisintegrated, what did you do with the liquid?
A: I threw it on a pit.
Q: Where is it?
A: Here
Q: Are there bodieswhere we are standing?
A: Yes, here.
Q: Who else does this forEl Teo?
A: I don´t know.
Q. You don´t know anyoneelse?
A: No.
Q: How many bodies didyou get rid of in a week?
A: No answer.
Q: How many bodies doyou have here?
A: About ten.
Q: And when did you dissolvethem?
A: About three months ago.
Q: How much time did youspend with the bodies you were given?
A: 24 hrs.
Q: Are you regretful?
A: Yeah.
Q: Were there only drugdealers? The ones you executed?
A: I don´t know.
Q: Who brought you thebodies?
A: They were different people.
Q: What would you say tothe relatives of those who you dissolved in acid?
A What can I say? Ask them forforgiveness.
Q: Why were you cryingmoments ago?
A: Before giving an answer, thesoldiers took him away.
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Original story:
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/915149.html
