San Felipe Fishermen Leader, Sunshine Rodríguez Found Not Guilty And Released By A Judge In Hermosillo, Sonora

ALFREDO AZCARATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST/EDITOR

A little more than wo years ago, in coordinated operations by the National Guard and the Army, three people, two men and a woman were arrested in San Felipe and sent to a federal prison in Hermosillo, Sonora, among them was Sunshine Rodríguez, leader of the port fishermen, a case that echoed all over Mexico.

Sunshine Rodriguez had led San Felipe fishermen for several years, until he was accused of totoaba bladder traffic, he was arraigned and sent to the Federal Center for Social Reinsertion in Hermosillo, but his trial was prolonged and he stayed in jail since November 2020, and hearings were delayed and put off continuously.

The release of the fishermen leader, accused of totoaba bladder traffic activities, came after Sunshine had been thrown and left alone in jail for about 28 months, accused of a crime that he didn´t commit an activity that didn´t stop at all while he was locked up.

Sunshine Rodríguez arraigned in Hermosillo, San Felipe fishermen leader may be sentenced to 10 years

After being arrested and sent to federal jail, Sunshine Rodríguez maintained his innocence, his family, friends and fellow fishermen continuously went public trying to call society´s attention to their serious problem, Court proceedings went too slow due to the pandemics issue and after that they didn´t speed up at all.

Sunshine´s physical condition and health deteriorated considerably, while outside, his family demonstrated and called for press conferences in order to spread the word and inform what was he going thru and how the Judicial System was too slow.

Enrique Acosta Fregozo, Sunshine Rodríguez lawyer, posted in his personal FB account: “after two years of fighting against the injustice that was being committed against the fisherman leader, he was declared innocent of the accusations of being a trafficker of totoaba crop, a business that makes millionaires. profits to organized crime”, he said.

Acosta Fregozo praised the work lawyers Guadalupe Vázquez Corona and Gerardo Cervantes Domínguez did, they struggled for two years and achieved the innocence verdict and release of Sunshine Rodríguez, they proved his innocence, and a Federal Judge released him, he is expected to reunkte with his family in a short time, and most likely will go back to work.