General Luis Cresencio Sandoval was in a highly favorable position in late May 2021. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had publicly supported him time and again, granting him free rein to allow the Army to carry out the government’s top infrastructure projects without oversight or limitations: the Dos Bocas refinery, the new airport, the operation of Mexicana Airlines, and the Maya Train, among others.
General Sandoval held unquestionable power not only because he was the head of the Armed Forces, but also due to the central role that the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) played in López Obrador’s administration.
So his meeting at the time with the head of the Judiciary was not just any appointment. He was to speak with Arturo Zaldívar Lelo de Larrea, then-president of the Supreme Court, about matters of interest to the Army’s top commander.
There weren’t many issues—just about six, according to a briefing note found among emails leaked by the hacktivist group Guacamaya. But one of them was particularly sensitive: the case of another high-ranking officer, Brigadier General Eustorgio Villalba Cortés.
At the time, Villalba Cortés was under prosecution and being held in custody for sex crimes: the rape of three subordinate female soldiers, and the sexual harassment and abuse of two others—allegedly committed while he was commander of the Eighth Military Zone based in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.
For the Army’s high command, this was not just another officer—it was one of their own. Villalba Cortés was a seasoned general who, in 2015, had been promoted to brigadier general by then-president Enrique Peña Nieto, and who in February 2018—shortly before the incidents reported by his subordinates—was awarded the Legion of Honor Medal for 30 years of service.
At that point, the case had been transferred to civilian courts, as a federal judge had ruled that the crimes in question were not related to military discipline.
In response, Villalba’s defense filed a motion for review, arguing that since the accused’s actions had impacted military discipline, the case should be returned to the military justice system.
So General Luis Cresencio Sandoval schedules a meeting with Minister Zaldívar to allow General Villalba Cortés to be tried in the military courts. According to the briefing notes prepared by his team, the Army chief was advised to:
“REQUEST THAT THE PRESIDENT OF THE SUPREME COURT accept the motion for review and rule that the case falls under military jurisdiction, as such conduct does affect military discipline.”
The general sought to ensure that this case—one of 525 investigations opened by the Military Prosecutor’s Office for rape, harassment, and sexual abuse between 2013 and 2024—would be resolved within the military court system.
The aim was to prevent the Army’s reputation from being tarnished by what had long been acknowledged internally: that in barracks, offices, military bases, military hospitals, and courts, there existed a troubling pattern of gender-based violence that could no longer be denied or concealed.
The case of General Eustorgio Villalba Cortés was far from isolated—or unique.
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The high number of complaints, reports, and investigations of sexual offenses committed by military personnel points to a deeply rooted structural sexism within the institution, and to a system that prioritizes protecting commanders and the institution itself over the women who suffer violence.
High-ranking officers hide behind doctrines of obedience, subordination, and discipline, all which have the potential to allow for cover-ups among fellow officers, thereby paving the way for impunity.
Victims—subject to military discipline and systemic machismo—are often forced into silence for fear of retaliation. This fear prevents many of them from publicly denouncing their attackers.
For this report, around twenty women who had reported some form of gender-based violence were contacted, and conversations were held with at least twelve of them. In the end, only six agreed to share their testimonies (four of them anonymously). Some stopped responding altogether, while others refused to participate out of fear that their communications—emails, text messages, and social media—might be monitored.
A review of fifty investigations by the Army’s Internal Control Body, twenty judicial case files, and complaints submitted to the Office for Addressing Sexual Harassment (HAS)—all included in the Guacamaya leaks—paint a picture of an institution poisoned by a culture of machismo that tolerates and covers up violence against the women serving in the military.
* * *
It was March 15, 2018, and Dora, whose real name has been withheld to protect her identity, had just experienced an event that had left her “paralyzed.”
At around 10:00 a.m., General Eustorgio Villalba Cortés, a 50-year-old man, summoned her to clean his office at the Headquarters of the Eighth Military Zone, located in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.
After finishing the task assigned to her by her superior, Dora approached to report to him, and he extended his hand to thank her. While telling her she was “very pretty,” he caressed her hand, which made her feel “very uncomfortable.”
He then pulled her into a hug and began touching her buttocks. She tried to break away, but couldn’t. “I was in shock.”
Finally, the general let go of her and tried to justify himself: "Excuse me, I'm not like that, but you're very pretty. I can't control my impulses." Dora immediately left his office.
Five days later, the general called her back to his office. It was 11:00 a.m., and Dora entered "fearfully" when she realized he was alone. He asked her to close the door and sit down. The general stood up and walked toward her. The soldier, fearful, did the same.
General Villalba, who was 1.78 meters tall, lunged at her, pulling her arm toward him and beginning to touch her. The soldier tried to break away and began to struggle to keep him from putting his hands under her clothes, but his strength won.
He violently pushed her into the apartment and took her to the bed, where he finally raped her, according to Dora's own testimony during the oral trial TMJO/036/2019.
While he was sexually assaulting her, someone knocked on the locked door of the main entrance to the office. Villalba threw Dora out and asked her to hide in the bathroom. He, who was naked, put on shorts and a green T-shirt to open the door.
At that moment, her mind "was paralyzed" and she was "in shock." She left the office somehow, but didn't tell anyone what had happened.
* * *
For several female soldiers who, due to their duties, were required to interact with General Villalba Cortés, the period from March to May 2018 was difficult to endure.
Young, newly enlisted, holding the lowest ranks in the military hierarchy, and with aspirations of building a military career, they encountered a reality they had never imagined.
Five of them reported being sexually assaulted by General Villalba during that time. After several months of uncertainty over whether they should file a formal complaint—given the challenges and potential retaliation they might face for taking legal action against a high-ranking officer—they ultimately decided to proceed.
On June 2, 2018, they appeared before the Military Prosecutor’s Office. Two weeks later, the Military Attorney General’s Office formally charged General Villalba with rape and sexual abuse against three of the soldiers, dismissing the other two reports of sexual abuse on the grounds of lacking what it called “irrefutable evidence.”
On June 20, he was placed in pre-trial detention and incarcerated at the prison in Military Camp Number 1, in Mexico City.
Nearly a year later, on May 20 and 21, 2019, a hearing was held before the Oral Trial Court of the First Military Region.
Despite the testimonies and forensic reports presented by the military prosecutor and the victims’ legal team, the members of the court reached an outcome that shocked the victims: they acquitted him unanimously.
Brigadier General Villalba Cortés, they concluded unequivocally, was “not guilty and not criminally responsible for the offenses of sexual abuse and rape.”
Just a month and a half after his initial acquittal, Villalba was assigned a major role in President López Obrador’s administration: he was appointed regional coordinator of the National Guard in Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, and Zacatecas, as part of the strategy to deploy the force and militarize public security in the country.
The high command that gave him control over this regional operation of the National Guard did not care that Villalba Cortés was still involved in an ongoing legal process.
The victims’ attorneys, along with the military prosecutor herself, had appealed the initial ruling that cleared the general. That process was still underway. The soldiers had suffered an initial legal setback—but it would not be the final one.
* * *
General Villalba Cortés, who by then had 33 years of service, had developed a modus operandi, according to the victims' court testimony reviewed for this investigation: he would summon them to his office, where he would try to be alone with them and attack them.
On the morning of Tuesday, April 3, 2018, as soon as roll call ended in the unit, he summoned office assistant soldier Julia, whose real name is being withheld for her protection . When she reported to the First Staff Section, Lieutenant José Luis González was also in the office. The general asked him to leaveand leave them alone.
As soon as the lieutenant left, the general closed the door and hugged Julia with his right hand. He took advantage of the soldier's confusion and slipped one of his hands under her clothing. The soldier asked him to let her go, telling him "she didn't want to," while trying to push him away, but her superior's reaction was more violent.
Eustorgio Villalba pushed her onto a chair, where he restrained her using physical force, pulled down her pants, and raped her, she recounted during the trial hearing.
In response to the assault, Julia, kicked him and pushed him. She rushed toward the back door of the office, behind a desk that leads to the First Section of the General Staff, trying to escape. As she left, she heard the general warn her: "You're a soldier; I'm a general. No one will believe you!" This threat was enough to discourage Julia from immediately reporting the incident.
It wasn't long after this episode of violence occurred before the general sexually assaulted another young soldier, according to the court file.
On May 7, office assistant Cecilia whose real name is being concealed for her protection, went to Villalba Cortés's office to give him a card with an update. As she headed toward the exit, the general stopped her, hugged her, began to touch her breasts, and rub his body against hers.
The young woman, trying to break free, pushed him until he let go and managed to leave the office.
A week later, on the night of May 14, Cecilia again went to the General Staff office, where General Eustorgio, who had summoned her, worked.
He was sitting listening to music and asked her to sit down. He asked her how she was and if she liked being there. Suddenly, Villalba Cortés stood up, and she instinctively did the same. He approached, and Cecilia took a step back. He moved closer and stared at her.
Trying to escape, Cecilia told him she had to attend the roll call and headed toward the door, turning her back on the general. At that moment, he attacked her: he grabbed her from behind, pressed his body against hers, and began to touch her breasts and buttocks. “I was in shock and very scared,” the soldier would testify months later before the public prosecutor.
The struggle continued until the general gave up, and she went to the roll call. With the permission of her superior, a lieutenant, she retreated to her quarters. A little later, a different officer spoke to her, telling her she had to report to the general's office again.
She entered and closed the door. The general was sitting there listening to loud music. He ordered her to sit down and asked if she felt okay. Villalba Cortés stood up, and she immediately went to the door, but he held her and prevented her from leaving. Cecilia was in shock and only heard when the general locked the main office door.
Using force, he took her inside his darkened quarters, and threw her onto the bed. He immobilized her, pulled down her clothes, and headed for the closet. In those seconds, the soldier tried to pull up her pants and underwear, but Villalba subdued her and raped her.
Cecilia, shocked and terrified, didn't know what to do and didn't scream because she thought no one would hear her, since the music was playing at full volume.
After the attack, she ran back to her apartment and began to cry. She also didn't ask for help, report the crime, or seek medical help. "I didn't want them to touch my body," she later testified before the public prosecutor.
* * *
After two days of hearings—during which the victims testified, expert reports were presented, and the general’s defense and witnesses, including his wife, were heard—the members of the Military Tribunal delivered their acquittal in just 17 words: Eustorgio Villalba Cortés “is not guilty nor criminally responsible for the crimes of sexual abuse and rape.”
Beyond the legal language, the reasoning behind the Military Tribunal’s decision to exonerate the general stands out. To begin with, they deemed the testimonies of two of the rape victims to be “implausible.”
They found it illogical that Dora did not use the moment when someone knocked on the general’s office door to escape, instead choosing to hide in the bathroom. “It was an ideal opportunity for the victim to ask for help and for the accused to be caught,” they reasoned.
And because she did not act in the way the tribunal expected her to, they chose not to believe the testimony of the military police soldier.
The same “skepticism” was applied to Cecilia’s case. The tribunal also found it illogical that she didn’t take the chance to flee when the general went to the closet to put on a condom, despite her testimony stating that she tried to escape but the general quickly returned, violently threw her onto the bed, and that the door was locked.
“It appears that the victim remained at the scene of the sexual assault, waiting for her aggressor to put on a condom, which casts doubt on the truthfulness of the account, as the victim could have run for help, pulled up her pants, or moved away and refused to submit to the assault,” reads the court ruling in the criminal case file TMJO/036/2019.
In addition, the tribunal questioned why the three soldiers did not “report the sexual assault promptly” and accused them of conspiring against the general, finding it suspicious that they reported the incident together.
The court disregarded the fact that during the two-day hearing, all three women had explained why they did not file a report immediately.
One of them said she didn’t report it because, feeling alone after the assault, she chose to desert. She also feared taking legal action because he was a general and she was a newly enlisted soldier, as she explained during questioning in the trial.
Another victim shared that she lived in fear after the assault. That’s why she didn’t see a doctor or seek help. She also remembered the warning the general gave her after the assault: she would be the only one harmed.
“I was afraid because he was a General and I was a soldier who had just joined the Army with dreams of advancement, and my fear was that they would crush those dreams,” the victim declared.
The third victim said that after the incident, she withdrew to her quarters and didn’t tell anyone what had happened. She felt “vulnerable” and did not go to a doctor for one simple reason: she did not want anyone to touch her body.
* * *
The victims’ legal advisors and the military prosecutor herself, María del Carmen Olvera, refuted—point by point—the arguments used by the members of the Tribunal to acquit Eustorgio Villalba, stating that they were “lacking a gender perspective.”
“They expect the victims to have fought back or run away. However, we must not forget that each person reacts differently when faced with a traumatic event,” explained one of the victims’ attorneys during the appeal.
She also criticized the Tribunal for ignoring the fact that the sexual violence against the three soldiers occurred “in a generalized and constant context of sexual harassment.”
Another advisor argued that it was illegal to discredit the victims’ testimonies based on the fact that their responses to the attacks were not highly reactive. Instead, the court should have considered the “supra-subordination” relationship that existed between the victims and their aggressor.
“General Villalba Cortés, as his rank clearly indicates, is a brigadier general to whom the victims owed obedience and subordination, since they were soldiers. This placed them at a complete and undeniable disadvantage in relation to their aggressor, not only due to gender (man versus woman), but also due to the power dynamic (general versus soldier)—a situation that reflects an extreme vulnerability which the Tribunal failed to recognize and assess when issuing its verdict.”
The lawyers reminded the members of the Tribunal of a crucial point they had overlooked: the victims had just graduated from a course at the Regional Individual Combat Training Center, a military training facility where doctrine is taught and the values of the armed forces are instilled.
There, one of the legal defenders explained, the most emphasized training they receive is in obedience and subordination—specifically, in following orders without question, particularly from figures of authority.
Finally, the attorneys for the three soldiers reminded the military judges that, in cases of sexual violence, there are numerous obstacles that prevent victims from reporting the abuse—such as shame and fear, lack of information, lack of technical and legal assistance, and lack of protection.
* * *
A small but fleeting victory came for the victims. The arguments presented by the victims’ attorneys during the appeal had an effect, and on July 25, 2019, they succeeded in getting the Military Superior Court to overturn the acquittal.
On November 19, 2019, the victims achieved another, seemingly greater victory: a conviction was handed down—18 years and eight months in prison.
General Villalba, unwilling to lose the battle, filed one legal appeal after another until his case reached the doors of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. His goal was to have a review accepted and to ensure that the case remained under military jurisdiction and not be turned over to civilian courts.
It was during this period that the meeting took place between the Secretary of National Defense and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Despite General Sandoval’s lobbying, the case was transferred to civilian jurisdiction.
A few months later, in November 2021, the Military Prosecutor’s Office referred the investigation file to the Federal Attorney General’s Office.
Once there, the case entered a tortuous bureaucratic labyrinth and began bouncing between different departments.
To this day, the victims are still waiting—just as they have for years—for any trace of justice.
