Police seize three vehicles from a journalist in Cadereyta, Querétaro.

CADEREYTA DE MONTES, Qro., (apro) .- A video recorded the moment when municipal police from Cadereyta de Montes arrived at night and seized three vehicles from journalist Antonio Villagómez Muñoz, who runs the website “Entérate Cadereyta.”

"I wouldn't want to see it, but everything indicates that it's a form of repression," lamented the communicator, who doesn't hide his sympathy for the so-called "Fourth Transformation," and even promoted Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo in one of the vehicles seized from him.

Cadereyta's municipal president, Astrid Alejandra Ortega Vázquez, also a Morena member, released a video two days later in which she spoke about the "Clear, Protect, and Respect" campaign, which her government had launched two weeks earlier.

"We are acting in accordance with Article 88 of the Municipal Traffic and Road Regulations, which prohibits leaving a vehicle parked on public roads for more than 72 consecutive hours," he stated in his video.

In that same recording, he clarified: "And mind you, this isn't out of annoyance or whim, it's for safety and to smooth traffic flow, so that ambulances, pedestrians, public transportation, and everyone can pass without any problems."

The road where the journalist's vehicles were seized is a wide street where ambulances can easily pass, so the journalist believes there was another reason for the operation that seized his vehicles.

"Trailers come through here, I mean, no, at least an ambulance, I mean, no, no, that wasn't the case," Villagómez said.

In an interview with Proceso , the mayor of Cadereyta acknowledged that removing only the three vehicles from the communication lane does not facilitate the passage of an ambulance, because the rest of the lane is still occupied by other vehicles.

"My comment from People's Thursday about the ambulance wouldn't apply specifically to this road. What would apply to this road? This other thing I'm telling you about, about not obstructing parking spaces for a continuous period of time exceeding 72 hours," he admitted.

The "Clear, Protect, and Respect" campaign was launched without prior research, based on complaints from five people, and the mayor said she imagined it would affect the same number of roads.

However, journalist Antonio Villagómez attributed the operation, which resulted in the seizure of his vehicles, "to the publications we've made and the reports as well."

Villagómez has been critical of the Cadereyta de Montes municipal government, but in recent weeks he has released information related to Santiago Nieto, head of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), including polls favoring him as a candidate in Querétaro.

The mayor of Cadereyta de Montes belongs to a different political group within Morena, distinct from the one led by Santiago, but she denied that the matter was related to any retaliation for what was reported.

Irregular procedure

A video about the vehicle seizure also captured the moment when a female police officer told the reporter that the procedure against her began: "Starting June 25, 2025, as I already showed you in the document."

This date is significant because it confirms that the first action was initiated against journalist Antonio Villagómez, and two weeks later, they launched and disseminated the aforementioned campaign, which culminated in the seizure of his vehicles.

Furthermore, journalist Antonio Villagómez recalled that the only encounter with police occurred much earlier, on June 4, when he was notified that he would have 72 hours from the date of notification to move the vehicles.

“I spoke to an officer once, just once. The officer asked me if the vehicles were mine. 'Yes, yes,' I told him, 'they're mine.' He said, 'We're going to take them away.' And then, I'm telling you, he said they were going to notify us and that, from the notification, we had 72 hours,” the journalist stated.

However, whether it was June 4, which the journalist refers to as the only meeting with the police, or June 25, indicated by the officers who seized his vehicles, the deadlines were not met.

The mayor told the population that after receiving a respectful invitation, they would have 72 hours to move their vehicles. If they didn't, they would be notified and given another 72 hours. If they still didn't move them, they would be towed away.

However, the communicator was never notified, confirmed Mayor Astrid Ortega, even though the campaign's primary objective was to locate and notify the owners.

“Were you notified?” was the question to the mayor of Cadereyta de Montes.

"No, uh, because he doesn't know, uh, he stated, no, he didn't state that he was the owner of those vehicles, so when the owner isn't found, the vehicles are removed."

According to Ortega Vázquez, his police were unable to locate the journalist even though they asked "everyone" about him.

"The instruction and what these officers did was knock on neighboring homes, businesses, and question everyone," she said, even though, according to her, in a municipality like Cadereyta de Montes, everyone knows everyone.

Moments later, Astrid Ortega acknowledged that journalist Antonio Villagómez contacted the head of the Cadereyta de Montes Municipal Police from the first time he spoke with the officers, and that he also stated that they were his vehicles.

"This man sends a WhatsApp message to the director and says, 'Hey, these are my vehicles,' I don't know what, 'Give me a chance.'"

However, even though they contacted each other by text message, the communicator was not notified.

"Neither the president nor her brother is answering me. I'm just asking for an opportunity to go get the keys so I can move them," the journalist can be heard saying during the broadcast when the vehicles were seized.

Regarding the request to simply retrieve the keys to their vehicles and move them, the mayor explained that municipal regulations must be strictly followed.

“I would be very concerned if the Cadereyta officials were giving chances at the last minute.”

However, moments later he reiterated that the journalist contacted the police chief and that he was given a chance.

"I insist that the period established by the regulations for withdrawal was exceeded."

“So, did they give him a chance?” he was asked.

“Yes, of course, of course,” Ortega Vázquez admitted.

In July, only four vehicles were taken to the impound lot, three of which belonged to the mediator. This happened after 39 verbal warnings and 18 written notifications.

"Our government doesn't do those things. We don't bother people just for the sake of bothering them," the mayor said.

Santiago Nieto, the topic

The journalist attributed the operation to secure his vehicles to the information he has disseminated through his media outlet, "Entérate Cadereyta," which includes critical information about the municipal government.

However, from June 4th until July 22nd, when their vehicles were seized, there was a constant in their posts: Santiago Nieto Castillo.

Before June 4, when he was approached by police who warned him to move his vehicles, at a time when the "Clear, Protect, and Respect" campaign had not yet existed, the journalist made 15 posts about Santiago Nieto.

On June 15, it published an interview with the politician; on June 18, it published a poll favoring him as a gubernatorial candidate; on June 24, it published another poll in the same vein; and the following day, proceedings were initiated against his vehicles.

The date of July 16, when they attempted to notify him, according to the police who seized his vehicles, is also based on another poll favoring Santiago Nieto, published two days earlier, on July 14.

And similarly, three days before his vehicles were seized on July 22, that is, on July 19, he had published another poll that also showed Santiago as the politician with the highest approval rating within Morena as the candidate for governor.

The mayor said in the interview with Proceso that she preferred us to ask her directly if she had repressed the journalist so that he would answer "No."

"I prefer you to ask me things like this, rather than first asking one thing and then another and I don't know what, as if trying to get to the bottom of the non-issue, because that issue doesn't exist. If you ask me, 'Hey, was there repression against this person?' I'm going to tell you clearly: 'No, no.'"

The mayor has consistently criticized the media, but this is the first time her police have acted against a journalist.