Arrest follows intelligence work and surveillance
De la Cruz Anaya was detained at 1:05 p.m. Tuesday in the Estero del Pantano neighborhood, according to Infobae. The Navy coordinated the operation with the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection and state and municipal authorities.
Investigators had tracked his movements and identified possible locations before moving to arrest him. Authorities allege that the CJNG-linked group he led operated in Jáltipan, Cosoleacaque and Minatitlán, in southern Veracruz.
Security personnel seized a vehicle, several cellphones and 398,000 pesos in cash, along with other items. Authorities took custody of the seized property for examination as part of the investigation.
Infobae reported that De la Cruz Anaya was brought before a local judge, who ordered his transfer to a court in Xalapa, Veracruz. The allegations against him remain subject to judicial determination, and he is presumed innocent.
Kidnapping inquiry led investigators to El Cocuital
The official account traces the investigation to January 2026, when two business owners were kidnapped in Cosoleacaque. Investigators subsequently identified De la Cruz Anaya as the group's suspected regional leader and began examining possible connections to kidnapping, extortion, drug sales and the illicit fuel trade. Those suspected links have yet to be resolved in legal proceedings.
According to El Independiente, that inquiry led authorities to a safe house in El Cocuital, a community in Jáltipan. They detained a person known as 'Sparta' there and collected intelligence about the criminal organization.
A separate reported connection concerns clandestine graves at the El Cocuital property, where several buried bodies were discovered earlier in 2026. Diario del Istmo identified De la Cruz Anaya as the third person detained in that case. The outlet reported that at least a dozen victims had been identified, with victims from Cosoleacaque, Acayucan, Sayula de Alemán and Chinameca.
Earlier arrests in the graves case
Diario del Istmo named two people detained before De la Cruz Anaya in connection with the El Cocuital case. Carlos Manuel Pacheco Mendoza, known as 'El Burro,' was arrested in May 2026 in El Laurel, a community in Zaragoza. In October, a judge ordered proceedings against him on aggravated kidnapping charges involving three people from Cosoleacaque whose bodies were found at the clandestine burial site.
The other detainee, Ignacio Hernández de la Cruz, known as 'El Nacho Cachondo,' was arrested on Oct. 22, 2026, following a failed cargo-truck robbery and a raid on a house in Jáltipan de Morelos, the outlet reported.
Navy reports 163 arrests under regional strategy
The operation against De la Cruz Anaya was part of the Estrategia Refuerzo Coatzacoalcos. The Navy said the strategy had resulted in 163 arrests, including 103 people allegedly connected to criminal organizations in southern Veracruz. It also reported estimated economic losses of 40 million pesos for those groups as a result of security operations.
The Security Cabinet attributed those results to joint operations, investigations and surveillance of people identified as instigators of violence. Authorities say the strategy seeks to reduce criminal groups' ability to operate, move resources and finance their activities in the region.
