“Monchi” Cervantes Clamors for the Capture of Manuel Castillo
Manuel Castillo, one of four men accused of the abduction and murder of seventy-one-year-old Ramon Cervantes Senior, in July 2014, is yet to be brought to justice. Despite being detained for his alleged role in the shocking crime, Castillo somehow managed to escape from lawful custody, before fleeing the jurisdiction. Since then, the family of the former senator and Orange Walk mayor has made all attempts to have Interpol actively seek the missing suspect. Those efforts, according to Ramon Cervantes Junior, have fallen flat. On Tuesday, Castillo’s accomplices were handed down stiff sentences, including life in prison. Noe Gonzalez, Angel Cardenas and Mateo Pott Junior were given minimum sentences of twenty-one years in prison for a crime that has ripped the Cervantes family apart. Ramon “Monchi” Cervantes Junior, now an area representative and Minister of State, spoke with the media in person this morning in Orange Walk.
Ramon “Monchi” Cervantes Jr.
Ramon “Monchi” Cervantes Jr., Son of Deceased
“It’s never over, as that vacuum that was left will never be filled. But we must go on and again, as I said the last time, I believe we got the best legal justice that could be afforded by the legal system within its parameters that I guess restricts the judiciary or governs over the judicial system. So it provides some degree of comfort which we have to live with. The guys confessed to it and there is still one out there that is on the run, so it’s not fully completed yet. But for this part, you know, well like you said, we have to live with, I guess it’s the best justice that we could get under this system.”
Isani Cayetano
“With respect to the other suspect who remains on the lam, do you believe that local and international authorities are moving fast enough to try to locate and apprehend him?”
Ramon Cervantes
“Regarding the local authorities, I don’t even know if they are moving. You know, we’ve been pressing on this with the… they always tell us it’s at Interpol, it’s at Interpol. I mean, the other day I saw a red flag on a former minister, who was a minister juts a few years ago, being put on the red flag in Interpol, and this guy Castillo hasn’t even come up on that, so I don’t even know what they are doing and I am asking once again, the police department, especially Interpol, to move up on it, you know. We must be able to do something through the authorities, through the proper authorities and I think it is incumbent upon them, upon the police department and I ask the Commissioner [of Police] to step up on the Interpol department or whoever is in charge of Interpol to move on this case. We must get this guy and get the full complete story.”
Reporter
”Have your family [members] been able to come up with the reason why your dad was killed? Like it seems, reviewing it and coming back to it now, it’s so strange and the only motivation could have been money, maybe. Anything comes to mind to you all?”
Ramon Cervantes
“We still don’t have the full story and that’s why I said in the initial, you know, the sentencing of these guys, it’s the completion of a part of it. We don’t know anything for sure, anything that’s definite. The only thing we know is what has happened.”
