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Los Kempes: the story of a montage
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Los Kempes: the story of a montage
Location: Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
Nationality: Mexican
Focus:
Photographer, Photojournalist, Journalist, Advertising, Producer, Health, Travel, Still Life, Fine Art, Environment, Documentary, Multimedia, Creative, Photography, Portraiture, Lifestyle, Freelance, Animals, Aerial, Communications, Editing, Storyteller, Climate, Publicist, Environmental Stories, Content Creation, Landscape, Portrait Photography
Covering:
Latin America,
Skills:
Research, Audio Recording, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Photo Editing, Branding, Art Direction, Multimedia Production, Photojournalism, Marketing, FAA drone pilot, Adobe Creative Suite
Clients:
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC,
GATOPARDO,
LOS ANGELES TIMES,
UNICEF,
INSIDER
School:
Centro de Estudios en Ciencias de la Comunicacion
Foundry Photojournalism Workshop
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Oswaldo Rodriguez Salvatierra, 40, poses for a portrait in Mexico City.
On August 16, 2002, The Specialized Unit for Organized Crime, in coordination with state authorities, captured six members of the 'Los Kempes' gang of kidnappers in the State of Mexico. At least two kidnappings which traded at 12 million Mexican pesos ($600,00 USD) each are attributed to them. Six men with common jobs and lives share the same story. Oswaldo spent 14 years in jail; Hugo, 8 months deprived of his liberty; José María died in 2013 during his imprisonment; and the rest (Sergio, Jorge and Ricardo) remain in prison: none of them have had the opportunity to defend themselves, while their families fight for their freedom.
On August 16, 2002, The Specialized Unit for Organized Crime, in coordination with state authorities, captured six members of the 'Los Kempes' gang of kidnappers in the State of Mexico. At least two kidnappings which traded at 12 million Mexican pesos ($600,00 USD) each are attributed to them. Six men with common jobs and lives share the same story. Oswaldo spent 14 years in jail; Hugo, 8 months deprived of his liberty; José María died in 2013 during his imprisonment; and the rest (Sergio, Jorge and Ricardo) remain in prison: none of them have had the opportunity to defend themselves, while their families fight for their freedom.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Archive Image of Santiago Hernández with his children, Jorge and Hugo in Mexico City.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Patricia Salvatierra Muñiz, 59, poses for a portrait in Mexico City.
Why them? This question drills into the mind of Patricia Salvatierra, Sergio's wife and Oswaldo and Hugo's mother, but 18 years later the answer has become background information. There was a rush to achieve figures in the fight against kidnapping worthy of bragging. The fabrication of culprits in Tlaxcala was not the exception but the rule during the 1999-2005 state administration headed by Governor Alfonso Sánchez Anaya, today a member of the federal security cabinet of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Why them? This question drills into the mind of Patricia Salvatierra, Sergio's wife and Oswaldo and Hugo's mother, but 18 years later the answer has become background information. There was a rush to achieve figures in the fight against kidnapping worthy of bragging. The fabrication of culprits in Tlaxcala was not the exception but the rule during the 1999-2005 state administration headed by Governor Alfonso Sánchez Anaya, today a member of the federal security cabinet of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Drawing made in prison by Jorge Hernández and sent to his mother, Rosa, for Mother's Day.
The Los Kempes gang was the 48th group of kidnappers that the police presumed to dismantle. According to Rosa, the investigations carried out were mere simulations; no process reached a successful conclusion and the judges ended up ordering the release of the detainees. The situation angered state businessmen, whose families were the target of the kidnappings, and they began to push for kidnapping cases to be tried in places other than Tlaxcala. This context gives the family members arguments to think that they were kept in prison to relax the spirits of the industrialists.
The Los Kempes gang was the 48th group of kidnappers that the police presumed to dismantle. According to Rosa, the investigations carried out were mere simulations; no process reached a successful conclusion and the judges ended up ordering the release of the detainees. The situation angered state businessmen, whose families were the target of the kidnappings, and they began to push for kidnapping cases to be tried in places other than Tlaxcala. This context gives the family members arguments to think that they were kept in prison to relax the spirits of the industrialists.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Memory of the first communion of Jorge Hernández in 1995.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Rosa María Romo Perdomo, 58, poses for a portrait in Mexico City.
You would think that defending yourself against such an obviously fabricated case would be easy, but the truth is that injustice in Mexico finds its ways to prevail. The court battle of the case began 10 days later. On August 23, 2002, the judicial process for the crime of possession of narcotics—which had been planted in all the accused—began. Almost three years passed before they were all sentenced to 77 years in prison. Rosa, Jorge's mother, and the other victim´s family members denounce that both them and their lawyers received intimidating calls , death threats and harassment throughout the process
You would think that defending yourself against such an obviously fabricated case would be easy, but the truth is that injustice in Mexico finds its ways to prevail. The court battle of the case began 10 days later. On August 23, 2002, the judicial process for the crime of possession of narcotics—which had been planted in all the accused—began. Almost three years passed before they were all sentenced to 77 years in prison. Rosa, Jorge's mother, and the other victim´s family members denounce that both them and their lawyers received intimidating calls , death threats and harassment throughout the process
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
A police sketch made from one of the kidnapping victims' statement.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Andrick Rodríguez Ramírez, 17, poses for a portrait in Mexico City.
Oswaldo, Andrick's father, was taken by surprise on December 15, 2016, when he was acquitted. Oswaldo is currently trying to build a new life with his wife Miriam, and his son Andrick. He was conceived 17 years ago inside the Santa Martha Acatitla prison.
Oswaldo, Andrick's father, was taken by surprise on December 15, 2016, when he was acquitted. Oswaldo is currently trying to build a new life with his wife Miriam, and his son Andrick. He was conceived 17 years ago inside the Santa Martha Acatitla prison.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Photos of Ricardo Almanza inside the prison during the Istanbul protocol to prove the torture during the process.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Antonio Almanza Ledesma, 68, Ricardo's father, poses for a portrait in Mexico City.
The police presented those involved to a press conference without knowing what they were accused of. Among those present was Ricardo Almanza Cerriteño, Jorge's brother-in-law, trying to talk to someone so that he could get Jorge out of what he thought was a misunderstanding. Oswaldo saw when a policeman took Ricardo and formed him next to the others accused. The moment when Ricardo shouts to the media was recorded by the Tlaxcala newspaper: ‘I am not a kidnapper! I am a relative of the detainee. I came to the Attorney General's Office to request information and they detained me". Ricardo's statement states that one of the police officers told him that in the absence of Alejandro, Jorge's 10-year-old brother, he was "screwed". Ricardo's name is always accompanied by a "and / or Alejandro Hernández Mora in the files. A record of how perverse and ridiculous the system is.
The police presented those involved to a press conference without knowing what they were accused of. Among those present was Ricardo Almanza Cerriteño, Jorge's brother-in-law, trying to talk to someone so that he could get Jorge out of what he thought was a misunderstanding. Oswaldo saw when a policeman took Ricardo and formed him next to the others accused. The moment when Ricardo shouts to the media was recorded by the Tlaxcala newspaper: ‘I am not a kidnapper! I am a relative of the detainee. I came to the Attorney General's Office to request information and they detained me". Ricardo's statement states that one of the police officers told him that in the absence of Alejandro, Jorge's 10-year-old brother, he was "screwed". Ricardo's name is always accompanied by a "and / or Alejandro Hernández Mora in the files. A record of how perverse and ridiculous the system is.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Isabel holds a photo of her brother José María Tenorio in CDMX.
They made José María read a few individual words while they were recording him: “kidnapping”, “money”, “killing”, “trouble”. There was no sequence. it was the construction of a fatal glossary in his own voice to make a guilty story. The recordings were part of the evidence falsification. The Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH) documented that after long torture sessions, the agents forced them to sign self-incriminating statements. In the evidence presentation the Tlaxcala Prosecutor's Office showed photos with which they intended to prove organized crime. The photos were taken three days before the arrest in front of José María´s house after a birthday celebration.
They made José María read a few individual words while they were recording him: “kidnapping”, “money”, “killing”, “trouble”. There was no sequence. it was the construction of a fatal glossary in his own voice to make a guilty story. The recordings were part of the evidence falsification. The Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH) documented that after long torture sessions, the agents forced them to sign self-incriminating statements. In the evidence presentation the Tlaxcala Prosecutor's Office showed photos with which they intended to prove organized crime. The photos were taken three days before the arrest in front of José María´s house after a birthday celebration.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Isabel Ramos Tenorio, 62, poses for a portrait in Mexico City.
According to the World Justice Project, 8 out of 10 people detained in Mexico are tortured during their transfer or while at the Public Ministry. Torture is a written language on the bodies of many trapped in the Mexican justice system. Isabel did not know that language until she saw it in the body of José María, her brother, when she visited him after his transfer in November 2011. Isabel remembers that occasion with particular clarity: “I saw him come with shorts and tennis shoes without laces. He had no teeth because the plates had been knocked loose. Disheveled, beaten, with broken knees”. Deprived of his freedom, José María Cirilo Ramos Tenorio died on October 23, 2013 at the age of 65. The death certificate records bruises and liver abscess. His sister assures that José María did not die, that he was killed in the torture sessions.
According to the World Justice Project, 8 out of 10 people detained in Mexico are tortured during their transfer or while at the Public Ministry. Torture is a written language on the bodies of many trapped in the Mexican justice system. Isabel did not know that language until she saw it in the body of José María, her brother, when she visited him after his transfer in November 2011. Isabel remembers that occasion with particular clarity: “I saw him come with shorts and tennis shoes without laces. He had no teeth because the plates had been knocked loose. Disheveled, beaten, with broken knees”. Deprived of his freedom, José María Cirilo Ramos Tenorio died on October 23, 2013 at the age of 65. The death certificate records bruises and liver abscess. His sister assures that José María did not die, that he was killed in the torture sessions.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Front page of the Tlaxcala newspaper of March 18, 2009 where Eduardo Medel Quiroz is accused of fabricating at least 19 kidnappings.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Hilda Almanza Cerriteño, 37, Ricardo's sister, poses for a portrait in Mexico City.
All of the defendants were taken to Gessel's chamber for identification. They were placed, side by side, next to the policemen. They sought all possible means to point them out as guilty: handcuffed, scruffy and with wet clothes, while their torturers wore shirts, boots and their visible insignia. Rafael Armas, 22, touched the shoulders of José María, Ricardo and Jorge without seeing their eyes. In another appearance Rafael retracted, and stated that he did not actually recognize them at that time. It was too late. In March 2019, the Ninth Court decided to sentence Ricardo to 39 years in prison, Sergio to 30 years and Jorge to 35 years.
All of the defendants were taken to Gessel's chamber for identification. They were placed, side by side, next to the policemen. They sought all possible means to point them out as guilty: handcuffed, scruffy and with wet clothes, while their torturers wore shirts, boots and their visible insignia. Rafael Armas, 22, touched the shoulders of José María, Ricardo and Jorge without seeing their eyes. In another appearance Rafael retracted, and stated that he did not actually recognize them at that time. It was too late. In March 2019, the Ninth Court decided to sentence Ricardo to 39 years in prison, Sergio to 30 years and Jorge to 35 years.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
Maria holds a photo of her husband José María Tenorio and his family on a Christmas Eve in December 2000.
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© 2024 Juan Pablo Ampudia
María Salvatierra Muñiz, 67, poses for a portrait in Mexico City.
"Overnight you go from being a worker, a head of the family, to being a kidnapper," says María Salvatierra with a broken voice. Overnight her husband became a kidnapper and she left her life behind to become a full-time victim. The relatives of Oswaldo, Hugo, Jorge, José María, Sergio and Ricardo also paused their life. They live to seek to free their relatives or to try to forget that they went through. Family members also live in a prison of tragedies that have no explanation.
"Overnight you go from being a worker, a head of the family, to being a kidnapper," says María Salvatierra with a broken voice. Overnight her husband became a kidnapper and she left her life behind to become a full-time victim. The relatives of Oswaldo, Hugo, Jorge, José María, Sergio and Ricardo also paused their life. They live to seek to free their relatives or to try to forget that they went through. Family members also live in a prison of tragedies that have no explanation.
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