Ex-Mexico Police Official Seized in Journalist’s Death

Authorities arrested the former chief of a federal police agency in the 1984 slaying of a crusading newspaper columnist. Gunshots and tear gas were fired before he gave up, a domestic news service said Wednesday.

Authorities had issued a warrant Sunday for Jose Antonio Zorrilla’s arrest in the fatal shooting of Manuel Buendia, who had been a vocal critic of corruption in government.

Police exchanged gunfire with Zorrilla outside his home, and one officer was wounded, the Excelsior news service reported. Police called for reinforcements and soon more than 70 uniformed officers and about 50 vehicles surrounded the residence.

Local news reports said Dist. Atty. Ignacios Morales Lechuga arrived about half an hour later, and the men talked inside the residence before Zorrilla surrendered.

Morales Lechuga said in a statement that he met with Zorrilla and drove him to Morales Lechuga’s office, where he was arrested. He did not mention the gunfire and confrontation at Zorrilla’s home.

The government news agency Notimex said Juventino Prado, a commander with the Mexico City Police Department’s intelligence division and a former lieutenant under Zorrilla, was hospitalized on Tuesday with a nervous breakdown.

According to investigators in the case, Prado accompanied Zorrilla when he arrived at the scene soon after the May 30, 1984, shooting, Notimex said.

In an interview on television Monday night, Morales Lechuga had identified Buendia as the “intellectual author” of the Buendia slaying. Authorities have refused to comment on a possible motive.

Buendia, a front-page columnist for the newspaper Excelsior and the author of several books that tackled sensitive targets like official corruption, drug and weapons trafficking and the CIA, was gunned down in a downtown parking garage.

Zorrilla has long been suspected of concealing evidence and intimidating witnesses.