An emigrant from Quebec, Mexico has been experiencing a nightmare since late March. His life was turned upside down after he was robbed, beaten, raped and left to die by a group of Puerto Vallarta criminals.

After five years in the Jalisco area, Patrick Larochelle had his habits and daily life in downtown Puerto Vallarta. There he lived for years with his partner Enrique Mucino in an apartment.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Larochelle

One fine afternoon on March 23, Mr. Larochelle went to a bar which he frequented. There he claims to have been drugged with GHB by local people.

“It’s very vague for me until 7 p.m.,” he says. My spouse explained to me that when I got back from the bar we had an argument about some nonsense and that I left. The problem is that I can’t see anything in the dark. I cannot and never do go out at night, not even to go to the supermarket. When I came to my senses, I was standing at a bus stop and was about to get on. Everything has changed here.”

waking nightmare

A delivery truck stopped at the side of the road. In a scenario worthy of a movie, four men got out and dragged Patrick Larochelle into the vehicle. Recognizing the same people who drugged him, he then robbed him at the local bar, taking his passport, computer and phone.

“Obviously they knew what they were doing because they disabled the Google tracking feature in my phone. They have also disabled my computer tracking. These people were not present at their first kidnapping and had planned their coup.

The native of Palmarolle would like to forget the following hours in Abitibi. His captors beat him before having non-consensual sex on a number of occasions, with his body bound for most of the night. He was then knocked out by a severe blow to the head.

His captors were so violent in their repeated attacks that Patrick Larochelle lost a tooth upon returning home. Photo courtesy of Patrick Larochelle

“I woke up because the garbage bag they left me in was stuck to my face when I was breathing,” Patrick Larochelle recalls painfully. I was totally devastated, had a headache and was completely naked in the middle of nowhere. They thought I was dead and sometimes I think I’d rather have been.

A lighthouse at night

About a week after the events that shaped his mind and body for a lifetime, the 47-year-old Quebecer received strange text from a Mexican woman. In the exchange Le Journal was able to obtain, the lady claims to work at the bar where it all started and says she has all of Mr Larochelle’s belongings in her hands, with photographs to go with them.

Screenshot provided by Patrick Larochelle and translated using Google Lens

Concerned for her fate and in case she gets caught with stolen gear, the waitress pulled her ears to meet whoever she was trying to help somewhere safe.

“She felt guilty about what people were doing around her and she wanted to help me. He is an incredible person who has shown great empathy.”

The police found out about the brewing exchange and arrested the young woman in the days that followed. She was finally released a little later.

Patrick Larochelle has since left Puerto Vallarta for Cancún with his wife and essentials, on the recommendation of the local Canadian consulate, fearing reprisals. Worried, his family and friends begged him to return home. The expatriate refuses out of love for the man “without whom he would no longer be here today”.

Patrick Larochelle and “the man of his life”, the Mexican architect Enrique Mucino, in Cancún. Photo courtesy of Patrick Larochelle

“Enrique is my guardian angel,” he says. Since what happened to me, he put aside his passion, his work as an architect, to help me. He’s the one paying all of our expenses because I don’t have a penny. It would be so much easier, but he’s the man of my life and I can’t leave him here after everything he’s done for me.

“A Travesty of Justice”

In the hours following his 2pm kidnapping, Patrick Larochelle was received by investigators from Fiscalia – the police department of the Attorney General of Mexico State – who took over the file from the Metropolitan Police.

It was her husband Enrique Mucino who reported her disappearance on the night of March 23-24. According to an official document seen by Le Journal, authorities refused to speak directly to Mr Larochelle to further the investigation, reiterating that “he must undergo a psychological evaluation before being considered a credible witness”.

“The only time I was able to talk to them was when they had to put me through an intimidating cinema-style interrogation,” says the Quebecer. They yelled at me, banged on the table and tried to lure me into a trap. It was a traumatic experience.”

The Mexican state police never wanted to do business with him again after that. Any discussion related to the file must be made through his spouse according to another official form with the seal of Fiscalia.

When asked by Le Journal, the Mexican authorities refrained from commenting, contenting themselves with the answer that “the investigation is still ongoing”.

crossing the desert

After Patrick Larochelle made the official complaint, he asked to see a coroner as soon as possible for blood tests to check for potential HIV infection and to confirm that he had in fact been sexually abused.

“They made it clear to me that there was no qualified coroner in the area to examine me for several weeks. I’ve never worried so much in my life,” breathes the man, who has been living in Mexico for five years, full of emotion.

It was more than two weeks before a doctor could examine him and prescribe 28 days of post-exposure treatment to prevent him from contracting AIDS.

Even after this prescription, Mr. Larochelle never received the result of the screening, which caused him great concern throughout the duration of the treatment. On June 5, he finally breathed a sigh of relief when his test came back negative.

“I feel alive again, it’s a tremendous burden that’s on our shoulders and like it or not, it’s affecting the couple too.” take your hand,” he concludes.

Troops of the Wagner mercenary group prepare to leave central Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, June 24, 2023. ARKADY BUDNITSKY (EFE)

US intelligence suspected that the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was planning an armed uprising against the Russian government, various US media reported, citing anonymous sources. According to these sources, the information was leaked not only to military and government officials, but also to some lawmakers.

US President Joe Biden has been following the uprising closely since Friday. He keeps in touch with US allies from Camp David, Maryland, where he is spending the weekend.

CNN revealed that US intelligence agencies briefed congressional leaders – known as the Gang of Eight – about the Wagner Group’s movements and material buildup near Russia earlier last week. Members of American and Western intelligence agencies saw signs that Prigozhin was preparing for an insurgency, such as the stockpiling of weapons and ammunition. The information was later confirmed by other means.

According to the Washington Post, in mid-June intelligence agencies gathered information indicating that Prigozhin was planning an armed attack on Russia’s defense establishment and promptly notified the White House and other government agencies so they would not be taken by surprise.

More information

US intelligence did not have precise information about Prigozhin’s specific plans or when an uprising might occur. Wagner’s forces took control of a Russian city on Friday and began advancing toward Moscow on Saturday. However, US intelligence was aware of both the discontent and instability of the mercenary group.

According to the New York Times, on Wednesday intelligence officials briefed senior military and administrative officials that Prigozhin was preparing military action against senior Russian defense officials.

Unlike last year, when Washington decided to release the information the intelligence agency had gathered about Russian aggression to prevent the invasion of Ukraine, this time it was sharing the findings with a limited audience. According to the New York Times, this decision was made to avoid being accused of orchestrating a coup in Russia and because the government had little interest in helping Putin avoid the crisis.

The newspaper reports that over the past two weeks there have been “major concerns” about what could happen in Russia, and in particular what the instability could mean for control of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

In recent months, intelligence services have analyzed growing tensions between Prigozhin and Russian Defense Ministry leaders, particularly Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Problems with supplying Russian troops with sufficient supplies heightened tensions.

A key trigger of the crisis was a June 10 order from the Russian Defense Ministry that required all volunteer departments to sign government contracts. Although the order did not mention the Wagner group by name, it did include the incorporation and subordination of Prigozhin’s mercenary forces, which proved essential to Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and helped achieve some of its most notable tactical victories.

After seizing official buildings in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don – which borders Ukraine and is a key logistical hub for the Kremlin’s war effort – and dispatched a column of armored vehicles toward Moscow, Prigozhin announced Saturday night that he was completing the march will stop in the direction of the capital and that his soldiers would withdraw to their camps “to avoid bloodshed”.

US President Joe Biden discussed the situation in Russia with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday. The group also reiterated its “unwavering support” for Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made similar calls to their counterparts from allied countries.

In a statement, the Pentagon said the United States will continue to remain in close coordination with its allies and partners as the situation evolves. Biden has avoided comment and is following events from Camp David.

The national security team briefed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the situation Saturday before the president left the White House. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan attended the meeting; Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley; Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief William Burns and US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

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According to police, a Kentucky woman has been accused of fatally shooting her West Texas Uber driver after mistakenly believing she had been kidnapped and taken to Mexico.

Phoebe Copas, 48, remained jailed in El Paso, Texas on Sunday after being charged with the murder of 52-year-old Daniel Piedra Garcia last week.

The shooting took place around 2 p.m. on June 16 as Piedra Copas was driving to a location in southeast El Paso.

According to authorities, Copas, who is from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, was in El Paso to visit her boyfriend.

While driving, Copas saw road signs that read “Juárez, Mexico,” according to an affidavit. El Paso is on the US-Mexico border across from Juárez.

Copas believes she was kidnapped and taken to Mexico and, according to the affidavit, is accused of taking a pistol from her purse and shooting Piedra in the head.

Phoebe Copas, 48, of Kentucky, was arrested in El Paso, Texas, and charged with murder for allegedly fatally shooting her Uber driver, Daniel Piedra Garcia

Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52, was driving to a location in southeast El Paso to visit her boyfriend but saw signs that read “Juarez, Mexico,” leading her to believe she was kidnapped

Copas is seen being put away on a stretcher after the incident

The vehicle he was driving crashed into guardrails before coming to a stop on a freeway.

A police affidavit said the area where the car crashed was “not in close proximity to any bridge, port of entry or other area with direct access to entry into Mexico.”

“The road Copas traveled is a normal route to the destination requested by the Copas.”

“The investigation does not show that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra strayed from the Copas’ destination,” police said.

Police allege that before calling 911, Copas took a picture of Piedra after the shooting and texted it to her boyfriend.

When police arrived at the scene around 2:20 p.m., they found Copas being helped out of the car by her boyfriend.

Center Ana Piedra, wife of Daniel Piedra Garcia, is comforted by family and friends during a vigil for her husband who was fatally shot while driving for Uber

Ana Piedra, wife of Daniel Piedra Garcia, wipes away tears during a memorial service for him

Friends, family, community members and fellow Uber drivers gathered to commemorate Piedra

She dropped everything she was holding on the floor, including a brown and silver pistol. Video captured by CBS4 shows Copas being taken away by ambulance.

Piedra was found slumped in the driver’s seat of the car after being shot in the head.

He lay in the hospital for several days before his family removed his life support after doctors told them he would not recover.

“He was a hardworking man and really funny,” Piedra’s niece, Didi Lopez, told the El Paso Times.

“He was never in a bad mood.” “He was always the one who, when he saw you in a bad mood, came up to you and tried to lift you up.”

The family understands that Piedra completed his last ride of the day when he picked up Copas.

The family understands that Piedra completed his last ride of the day when he picked up Copas

A GoFundMe campaign set up by Piedra’s family reported that he was her sole breadwinner and had only recently returned to work after injuring himself at his previous job

Police are investigating an overpass following the shooting that killed Piedra

“He picked her up but time passed and so his wife called him and called him and texted him and he didn’t answer the phone. “And then she started calling everyone else,” Lopez recalls.

“They called all the hospitals and tried to find out if he was there. And then someone had mentioned the article about the shooting of an Uber driver. They called the El Paso police and told them it was him. And so we go to the hospital. That’s how we found out.’

Copas, who is being held on $1.5 million bail, was originally charged with aggravated assault, but the charges were upgraded to murder following Piedra’s death.

A GoFundMe campaign started by Piedra’s family reported that he was her sole breadwinner and only recently returned to work after injuring himself at his previous job.

“I wish she would have spoken up, asked questions and not acted on the spur of the moment and made a reckless decision because not only would she have ruined our lives, she would have ruined hers,” Lopez said.

“We were originally told that the lady saw the sign on the freeway that said it was Mexico,” she explained.

“She panicked and thought my uncle was going to kidnap her.” And so her instinct was to shoot him, and she shot him multiple times in the head.”

“We just want justice for him.” That’s all we ask.’

For the first time in Germany, the AfD has won a district election, as the administration announced on Sunday.

Voters in the central German town of Sonneberg have elected AfD candidate Robert Stuhlmann at the expense of incumbent District Administrator Jürgen Köpper of the CDU.

In the run-off election in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg, Stuhlmann received 52.8% of the votes, according to the electoral authority, thus securing the required absolute majority.

The area with around 57,000 inhabitants is one of the smallest districts in Germany. Still, the AfD’s victory is a major breakthrough for the far-right party, with which mainstream parties have refused to cooperate on coalition deals.

The AfD leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, welcomed the victory and said it showed the party’s recent momentum.

“And then we prepare for the state elections in the east, where we can really trigger a political earthquake,” he said, referring to the state elections in the eastern states of Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.

The Thuringian party leader Björn Höcke (left) and the AfD federal chairman Tino Chrupalla (right) joined Robert Stuhlmann (middle). Image: Jacob Schröter/IMAGO

How did the AfD opponents react?

Thuringia’s social democratic interior minister Georg Maier described the result as “an alarm signal for all democratic forces”.

He called for partisan interests to be put aside and for democracy to be defended together.

President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, said that while not every AfD voter holds far-right views, the party itself does.

“This is a turning point that the democratic political forces of this country cannot simply accept,” he told RND media.

The International Auschwitz Committee also expressed its dismay.

“Today is a sad day for the district of Sonneberg, for Germany and for democracy,” said Senior Vice President Christoph Heubner.

“A majority of voters have obviously said goodbye to democracy and consciously opted for a right-wing extremist, Nazi-dominated extermination party.”

What was at stake?

Earlier this month, in the first round of voting in the runoff, Stuhlmann missed out on overall victory by just a few percentage points.

Such a strong performance by an AfD candidate sparked national alarms as all the other major political parties – the SPD, the Greens, the neoliberal FDP and the Socialist Left Party – backed the incumbent.

Although it is the highest political office in this small area, the position itself is of moderate importance and wields rather limited powers. Even after the AfD wins the elections, many of Stuhlmann’s tasks will simply consist of implementing laws of the state or federal parliament at the local level.

However, critics fear that the AfD could exercise political power at all and consider the party to be xenophobic and anti-democratic.

AfD rises sharply in polls

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The domestic secret service classifies the party in Thuringia and its controversial hardliner Björn Höcke as well-known right-wing extremists.

The Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) had also asked voters to stand up for the conservative Köpper.

The CDU claimed that the election campaign was aggressive and evil, false claims circulated on social media.

AfD on the rise

The AfD’s victory on Sunday marks a milestone for the far-right party, which currently sits between 18 and 20 percent in polls nationwide.

She has garnered a wave of support as the nationwide governing coalition of the left-wing SPD, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) shows signs of power struggles. Despite her rise, SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces a bigger challenge from the right-wing CDU. The conservative party of former Chancellor Angela Merkel is in polls at almost 30%.

The AfD entered the federal parliament for the first time in 2017 after having campaigned strongly against migration. More recently, the party has criticized German support for Ukraine while Kiev fends off Russia’s invasion.

zc, jsi, rc/kb (dpa, AFP, AP)