The police have arrested in Cuautla, in the State of Morelos, Mexico, Franciso Javier N, alias El Trompas, alleged murderer of the Spanish student Claudia Tacoronte. The agents found him in the same municipality where he committed the attack, on Saturday night. Tacoronte had arrived on exchange at the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM) in mid-August, to take a semester at the Institute of Educational Sciences, on the Cuernavaca campus, the capital of the State. The young woman, 21 years old, went to Cuautla over the weekend for a conference on medicinal plants.
On Saturday night, shortly before 9:00 p.m., the attacker arrived at the venue of the conference, the Casa de la Cultura of Cuautla, where some attendees were staying, including Tacoronte. In videos from the place obtained by this newspaper, the subject, wearing a white t-shirt and light shorts, with a backpack on his back, is seen entering the premises, which had no security. Tacoronte was near the entrance. The subject approached and stabbed her. The young woman died shortly after.
In a press conference this afternoon in Cuernavaca, the Morelos prosecutor, Fernando Blumenkron, confirmed that the detainee stole the young woman’s phone. Blumenkron confirmed the account of what happened. “Claudia arrived one day before [the murder] at the Casa de Cultura. She did normal activities. At eight o’clock in the evening [on Saturday] she left the premises because she had dinner.” The prosecutor continues and says that upon returning from dinner, the young woman stayed near the entrance, inside the Casa de Cultura. “She smoked a cigarette, talked on her cell phone, and this person entered where he carried out this criminal act,” he adds. The prosecutor pointed out that the detainee had a record for home robberies.
The federal Secretary of Security, Omar García Harfuch, was the first to confirm the arrest. “We deeply regret the femicide of Claudia Tacoronte. We express our sincerest condolences and all our solidarity to her family and loved ones. From the moment this femicide was known,” he said, federal and state authorities “began coordinated investigative work to identify, locate, and arrest the responsible party. As a result of this joint effort, the alleged perpetrator of this regrettable crime is already in custody,” he added.
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According to sources close to the Cuautla municipal police, consulted by EL PAÍS, the capture took place near the market, on Insurgentes street. Neighbors and merchants who have a chat group where they share matters of common interest saw him pass and alerted the channel. From there, they called the police, who found him intoxicated when he was arrested. The main suspect, whose image had been publicly disseminated throughout the country, had shaved his head and was wearing different clothes.
Following Tacoronte’s murder, which has sparked protests in Mexico and shocked Spain, Spanish universities announced they will review their controls before sending students to Mexico. Tacoronte, a student at the University of Granada, was on exchange at UAEM. Four female students from that institution have been murdered so far this year in the State of Morelos (central country), so Spanish authorities also recommended not visiting that area. This has been the case since the July update of the advisories ― the latest recorded ― due to “an increase in violence linked to drug trafficking, as well as kidnappings.” The Foreign Ministry includes Morelos among the “particularly dangerous places where it is currently recommended to postpone non-essential visits.”
In Mexico, immersed in a whirlwind of widespread violence for at least two decades, hundreds of women are murdered each year: 735 in 2025, 857 the previous year, and 382 in the first seven months of this year… The government of Claudia Sheinbaum, from Morena, the party created by her predecessor and political mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, proudly celebrates the reduction in daily homicides. Since her inauguration in 2024, daily homicides have decreased by 50%. There are improvements in large regions of the country. But not in Morelos, neighbor to Mexico City. The State is on track to exceed 1,500 annual victims, for a rate of 75 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest.
