Pedro Ariel Mendívil Arrested in Mexicali Forced‑Disappearance Probe

Pedro Ariel Mendívil García, former director of the Mexicali Municipal Public Safety Department, was arrested on Tuesday in a coordinated operation by Mexican federal and state authorities. The operation, led by the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) with support from the Mexican Navy (Semar), the Secretariat of National Defense (Defensa) and the Baja California Attorney General’s Office, also detained former police commander Luis Alfonso Jacobo Alviso and three former municipal agents. They are being investigated for forced disappearance, vehicle theft, criminal association and related offenses tied to a case that began in January 2023 concerning the disappearance of two U.S. citizens who frequently visited Mexicali.

A virtual hearing on the charges was held publicly on July 29, after Judge Fernando Serrano Jiménez rejected the prosecutor’s request to close the proceedings. Mendívil’s defense lawyers argued that the investigation file was incomplete and asked for all records before proceeding. The judge ordered a four‑hour recess for the prosecution to supply the missing documentation, reaffirming the principle of public hearings in such cases.