Former drug trafficker Héctor “El Güero” Palma Salazar, who has been incarcerated at Altiplano Maximum Security Prison since June 15, has registered the names of eleven lawyers who will make up his defense team. None of the lawyers have presented themselves to turn in documents.
Prison policies only allow two lawyers to visit each inmate.
Eleven of Palma Salazar’s family members are authorized to visit him, including five siblings, four children and the former drug lord’s mother.
According to sources from the federal prison system, “El Güero” has received medical attention and is in generally good health, although he did have high blood pressure when he arrived at Altiplano.
Palma Salazar, who previously served time in the U.S. prison system for drug trafficking, is accused of the murders of Subdirector of Nayarit State Police Antonio Contreras and his bodyguard José Cruz Guerrero on May 18, 1995.
According to court documents, the two police were ambushed by armed men and killed. A protected witness known as Julio N told authorities that Palma Salazar and his brother-in-law Ramón Laija Serrano had ordered the double homicide.
“El Güero,” who is 56 years old, was deported to Mexico on June 15 after obtaining a release for good behavior from the a U.S. federal prison in Atwater, California.
THE NEWS