Ex-PRI Governor of Puebla Sentenced 60 Years for Femicide of Cecilia Monzón

ByMexico Solidarity

This article originally appeared in the January 3, 2026 edition of Desinformémonos.

Mexico City. The Trial Court based at the San Miguel prison sentenced Javier López Zavala, former Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate for governor of Puebla, as well as Jair Mauricio Domínguez and Silvestre Vargas Ruiz, to 60 years in prison for the femicide of lawyer Cecilia Monzón, committed on May 21, 2022, on the Camino Real a Cholula.

In addition to the maximum sentence, the court imposed on each defendant a fine of 1,000 units of measurement and updating, the payment of 3,000 units for moral damages, and 1,200 units as compensation, equivalent to 724,096 pesos per person. López Zavala was found responsible as the mastermind, while Jair Mauricio Domínguez, the politician’s nephew, and Silvestre Vargas Ruiz, originally from Veracruz, were considered the perpetrators of the crime.

Helena Monzón, the victim’s sister and lawyer, celebrated the ruling, noting that the court considered the defendants’ “impunity” before and during the trial as an aggravating factor. “The intention was to kill, there is no doubt; this sentence must set a precedent for women in this country,” she stated, emphasizing that the ruling must stand firm against potential appeals and requests for protection.

The case of Cecilia Monzón became emblematic of the fight against impunity in femicides, after the lawyer publicly denounced López Zavala for domestic violence and for failing to pay child support for their son. According to the Puebla State Attorney General’s Office, the politician ordered her murder to silence her, in a context where collectives and organizations supported the legal process and demanded justice in a country where, they pointed out, the majority of femicides go unpunished.