When Tania Castillo first published her name in the media, she had a panic attack. Although her last name did not appear, friends and former colleagues recognized her. Yes, it was she who reported Néstor Vargas, the powerful legal advisor to the Mexico City government, for sexual harassment and abuse. From that moment, the fear and paranoia of this dedicated 37-year-old civil servant, who has been fighting for justice for 18 months, grew. This is the first time that Tania Castillo tells on camera what happened on April 1st and 5th, 2022 in the Zócalo office of Claudia Sheinbaum’s legal advisor and the consequences of raising her voice against a high-ranking official.
For Tania Castillo, the memories of those days are recorded as if on a computer: she cites the exact layout of the offices, the painting that adorned the waiting room, the first and last names of everyone who was encountered in the council building, the round trips between the offices , which of them he did by bike and which by motorbike, at what exact time he received a WhatsApp, which was verbatim in each message. This Mexico City-born lawyer with a Chihuahuan accent is clear, organized, and energetic. There is one idea he insists on during the two-day interview with this newspaper: “I wanted justice and I wanted that to happen to no one else.” EL PAÍS contacted the team of current Prime Minister Martí Batres but received no response.
On January 2, 2019, Tania Montserrat Castillo Vázquez was hired as the Purchasing and Materials Control Manager in the Legal Department and Legal Services of Mexico City. He was from Michoacán and it was his first leadership position. For more than three years he devoted himself to procuring what the civil registry, public property register, territorial regulation, legal services and civil justice agencies needed to function. From papers and gas to new staff. The latter took them to the Zócalo on Friday April 1st.
“Hey, you’re hot”
At 7:00 p.m., they informed her that they needed the signature of advisor Néstor Vargas for a contract and that she had to take the documents to the main building, where her boss, Juan Carlos Reséndiz, was waiting for her. She finished her French class and just before entering the Zócalo, she took off her sneakers for high heels she had in her backpack. She had to wait an hour to be received: she had time to take a selfie and send it to her roommates, who were planning to throw a small party that night, and to quote prices for the waiting room upholstery, a task that still outstanding for a few months.
Tania Castillo, former Mexico City government official. Alejandro Erreguín
When Castillo and Reséndiz enter the consultant’s office, he refuses to sign the papers they are asked for. “A professional services provider’s 54 Fractional Twelfths Approval must be signed by the head of the agency, who is that?” Well, the consultant. I told him so,” recalls the official, who began enumerating the times Vargas had already signed such a document. “He told me he wouldn’t sign it until I brought it to him and showed him he had already signed it. Then Juan Carlos and I get up, he goes out first, I also pack my things and the advisor comes up to me and says to me like this: “If you show me that I have signed this, I will invite you to dinner.” ‘ says the waiter.
“When he wants to say goodbye to me, he hugs me, but not like a brotherly hug, he touches my whole body and says, ‘Hey, you’re solid.’ I felt uncomfortable because I didn’t expect him to tell me that and especially that he would touch me like that. It’s inappropriate,” says Tania Castillo, who, as soon as she left the room, told her boss what had happened.
In the interviews, Castillo elucidates the strict oversight regime of his direct superiors and the transformation of the Zócalo building into a sort of castle of invincible power. “I never went to the Zócalo alone, I couldn’t, let alone speak to anyone from there, I couldn’t do it because we had to have permission to say what we’re going to say and why we’re going to say.” However, on Tuesday April 5, they forced her to go alone to meet the counselor again.
“Did they tell you that you have very full lips?”
At 12:30 p.m., separated by a glass desk and accompanied by several stacks of files that Tania Castillo had taken to get the new contract signed. The officer described the meeting as follows: “I stopped to tell him where on the document it said he had to sign, I went back to my chair and at that moment he stopped me and said, ‘They told you that you are very rich.’ lips.’ And I was like, “No thanks.” I tried to get back to the company because if I didn’t get it, they would scold me again. He started looking at me awkwardly, looked me in the middle and interrupted me again: “Oh, I’ll sign whatever you want, I already know Juan Carlos’ strategy: he sends me the prettiest thing so I don’t do it .” “I’m not saying no.” His misogynistic comment really annoyed me.
“He started signing the documents and I started keeping them. I got up but he hadn’t even grabbed my backpack and he was already there, he didn’t even give me a chance to stretch my arm. He hugged me and started telling me, “You smell very good.” He started kissing my neck and I started pushing him and I said, “Get down, calm down, you’re an officer, you are a waiter.” I couldn’t even move my arms. My breasts hurt from so much pressure and I felt his penis on my pelvis. It was a moment of what’s happening to me, it’s not real, it’s not happening to me, at some point I started fighting and I threw it off and his driver got in through a back door. It was like a thank you for coming because I was choking with courage. How should I react? He’s my boss, he’s a supervisor, he’s a consultant. I didn’t think he would be capable of doing this to me.
Néstor Vargas Solano in the Old Town Hall Palace of Mexico City.Victoria Valtierra (CUARTOSCURO)
When she sees another employee coming, Tania points out that the counselor turned on her, told her he needed to buy her lunch, and then left. She arrived at her unit, delivered the signatures and began to cry. In a habitual response of victims of sexual abuse, the questions, the doubts followed: “At what moment did I allow this to happen to me?” I have been an athlete for many years. I did martial arts. I swear I was blocked in that moment, I was paralyzed. How do you react? I was angry: why didn’t I kick him? Why didn’t I throw it away? I went through all the clothes she was wearing and said no, these are not sexy clothes. I have never dressed provocatively. Maybe I did something. Maybe I moved my mouth so he thought I was inviting him.
Tania Castillo tells what happened to her superiors, one of them the next day and her superior Juan Carlos Reséndiz on May 31st. In this conversation, which the official recorded, he admits that it is not the first time that similar behavior by the adviser has come to light. “He called me the other day to ask me about staff and a project and his question was, ‘And are they pretty? Beautiful.”
“I am very respectful”
In the months that followed, up until his October 30 resignation, Castillo attempted to force a meeting with the adviser, using a hidden camera he had bought for his pen, so the adviser could record his behavior. He didn’t get it until early October. In the recordings seen by EL PAÍS, Tania confronts Néstor Vargas and tells him the same thing that she told the prosecutor and the same newspaper. The consultant’s answer is: “I don’t remember, it wasn’t like that, it wasn’t like that, but if I offended you in something, I apologize, it wasn’t like that, I swear it was like that.” I like that not because I have a lot of respect for you I really didn’t do it, I try to be very careful, also I try to have real women, I apply the protocol immediately, I really apologize Tania, it wasn’t , but if you feel like it was so. So the truth is, I apologize to you.”
At one point at the end of the meeting, after Castillo had told him: “We know what happened, you were here, I was here”, Néstor Vargas emphasizes: “I know that they are hidden crimes, thank you that you told me.” You made it seem like you were uncomfortable. I swear I apologize to you, and That will never happen again… also, I offer you the record, there is nothing more important than making you feel good.”
Psychological expertise of the case. With kind approval
On November 8, Tania Castillo reported the counselor to the Mexico City Attorney’s Office for sexual harassment and abuse. Three days later, he sent a letter to then Prime Minister Claudia Sheinbaum to inform her of the incident and attached a copy of the complaint. The letter reads: “I address you, doctor, leader, woman and champion of many concerns that we suffer because we are women (…) I trust you to act as leader.” He is resolutely opposed to all forms of crime and in particular he has shown in other cases of this type brought before his administration that justice is relentlessly applied in the face of these abuses.”
Sheinbaum responded to a question during a press conference on February 1, 2023 that he was aware of the case and had discussed it with the prosecutor’s office and jointly with the women’s secretariat. “A fair decision will always be made” said the then-president, but noted that there was no need to remove Vargas from his post. To date, the director has held the same position. Mexico City’s prosecutors have decided not to pursue criminal proceedings because Tania Castillo’s testimony is “an isolated statement” unsupported by other witnesses. Castillo accuses that none of the audios and videos presented by her were left unconsidered, not even the cybernetic report was carried out. “They even deny that I was in the Zócalo during those days,” explains the official.
A private psychological expert stated after eight three-hour sessions with Tania that she exhibits “sleep disturbances, social disconnection, anxiety, cognitive changes, sexual discomfort, emotional dysregulation and intense physiological responses” caused by “post-traumatic stress from sexual harassment”. In the officer’s words: “I am frustrated, angry and sad because I see that it is not easy to obtain legal justice when one denounces.” inscription “Complain, don’t be silent, not again” see and you see that you denounced one of their people and nothing happens. It is very difficult to fight against the state itself.”
“The system failed me,” concludes Tania. “I expected more from the Department of Justice, I expected more from the Department of State to conduct its investigations, I expected the Doctor to take action on this matter and remove him from office.” Because how can you achieve that a person in that position abused their power with such actions? But neither, and justice has not been obtained, nothing has been done.” Castillo continues to work for the Mexico City government in another department, for which he insists none of his statements reflect political interests: “I I’m institutional, I’m not interested in one party or the other making the best of it.” And she admits: “Sometimes I even feel strange for having denounced, because it’s easier to remain silent, with normalcy to keep going and not get into trouble. It’s scary to face a whole system.”
Tania Castillo during an interview for EL PAÍS. Alejandro Erreguín
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