The Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) reported that it had not received any judicial order to release Jesús Héctor Palma Salazar, known as “El Güero Palma, one of the founders of the Cartel de Sinaloa (CDS), despite multiple outlets claiming the founder would be released. Federal authorities confirm the news is “false.”
The SSPC confirms that Palma Salazar remains in the Altiplano prison.
Earlier today, Jalisco Prosecutor Gerardo Octavio Solís confirmed they had received an official email from the Social Rehabilitation Directorate of the Federal Security Secretariat ordering Palma Salazar’s release and inquiring about any pending cases. Octavio Solís reportedly responded to the requested information via the same email. He added that information is confidential.
Palma Salazar worked as a hitman for Cartel de Guadalajara founder Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, known as “El Padrino” or “El Jefe de Jefes.” After meeting Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, he founded the CDS alongside El Chapo.
In 1978, the Arellano Félix brothers ordered Venezuelan trafficker Rafael Clavel Moreno to kill Palma Salazar’s wife and children. Clavel Moreno shipped the wife’s decapitated head to Palma and threw his two children off the Puente de la Concordia bridge in Venezuela. The hit on Palma’s family was later attributed to Félix Gallardo.
He was arrested in 1995 and extradited to the United States in 2007, facing a 16-year sentence. He was released in 2016 for good conduct. That same year, he was re-arrested in Mexico on two counts of homicide. He has yet to be charged and remains in the Altiplano maximum-security prison.