Cervantes Family Refutes Allegations Made By Accused Murder

Ramon Cervantes Sr.

On July fifth, 2014, the tortured body of seventy-one year old Ramon Cervantes Senior was found in a shallow grave on a farm off the Honey Camp Road in the Orange Walk district. Four days later, three men were charged for his abduction and murder, and since then all three have been on remand, awaiting justice. But now Guatemalan Noe Daniel Avila and Belizeans Angel Antonio Cardenas and Mateo Pott Junior are back in the spotlight because on Wednesday, one of those men made a startling statement in the Orange Walk Magistrate’s Court. They were in court for a procedural preliminary inquiry into the murder, but because of the events in court that day, the already disturbing case has taken on an even more sinister slant. Mike Rudon was in Orange Walk this morning and has the story on the reaction of the Cervantes family.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

The three men accused of kidnapping and brutally killing Ramon Cervantes Senior have been on remand for that murder almost sixteen months. Now, less than two weeks before the general elections, one of those men suddenly stood up in Court on Wednesday and claimed that he was paid by Ramon Cervantes Junior to murder his own father.

Ramon Cervantes Jr., P.U.P. Candidate, OW North

“Honestly we had been hearing rumours from before that that such a thing would happen. We didn’t know when or where but we had been hearing it. My opponent’s radio station Sugar City Radio Station had been spreading those rumours, alluding to what the guy said weeks before. Campaigners and supporters of my opponent just one month after my father died had been spreading those rumours and then we had heard that this guy would make such a statement. Frankly I was taken aback because it’s a lie, it’s false, it is malicious. I don’t even know the guy. The first time I saw him was when he was arrested for my father’s murder.”

The accuser was allowed to give a statement supporting the disturbing allegation.

Ramon Cervantes Jr.

Ramon Cervantes Jr.

“The Magistrate gave a five minute break and asked everybody to leave except our family and the Court orderlies and after that it resumed. The Magistrate allowed the guy to give his statement and she questioned him and then he fumbled. He couldn’t answer the questions. It was obvious that he had been given lines to say and when the Magistrate started asking him big holes were poked in his story. So that’s what happened and the Magistrate struck out his statement completely.”

What motive could Cervantes have possibly had to orchestrate the murder of his father? Incredibly, the accuser is allegedly saying that it is because Cervantes wanted to get his hands on his father’s money for his election campaign.

Ramon Cervantes Jr.

“In our family business, in our family affairs, my mom is the one that runs the purse…not my father and not me. It is my mom and my sister. We leave that to the females. They are the ones that run the finances of our business and our family affairs. In fact my father was my biggest campaigner. He was the first one that told me I should run. And then I told him well, if you accept that I run then I asked him to go and lobby with me with my mom because she is the one that deals with the finances of the family.”

Will the accusation scar Cervantes’ political run up to general election less than two weeks away. He doesn’t think so.

Ramon Cervantes Jr.

“We have seen that there has been a groundswell of support for my candidacy in the Orange Walk North division. Lies like this…people will see through these lies. They know these are lies, these are fabrications. They know it is politically motivated because this guy had sixteen to seventeen months to say something. He had given a statement. In fact in his statement he had said that I was a target. And also Joseph Myvett who was the Northern Regional Commander and got a promotion after my father’s murder…he was the one that told me I was next in line for kidnapping and murder so I better watch myself…that that came out of those guys’ statements…that there was a list. So the people will see through that.”

Even if they do, the accusation has hurt the family deeply, even as they struggle to get over the terrible death of their loved one.

Ramon Cervantes Jr.

“I have lost my father…my sisters have lost their father. My mom has lost her husband.”

Vilma Cervantes

Vilma Cervantes, Mother of Ramon Cervantes Jr.

“I know this is malice…political malice, and I know Monchi would never do something like that because he and his dad always worked together, they bonded together, they respected one another and as a family we are very close, so he would never do something like that.”

Ramon Cervantes Jr.

“It just shows the depth to which politics has gone in this because after all, my father was murdered. They murdered my father and now they are trying to murder my character and my reputation – to kill my character and my reputation and to ruin my family.”

Mike Rudon for News Five.