The Federal Police of Mexico arrested former priest Mauricio Víquez at dawn on Sunday. He was wanted by national authorities and the Interpol for the alleged crimes of sexual abuse and rape against minors.
The arrest would have occurred in the city of Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico, as confirmed by a source who preferred not to reveal their identity.The Costa Rican authorities are already informed of the arrest.
Víquez was wanted by the national authorities and Interpol for several allegations of alleged sexual abuse and rape against minors when he was a priest.
Since last January 9th there is no trace of him and the last migratory movement he reported was that he had traveled from Panama to Mexico. After that, the authorities did not know his whereabouts.
In fact, Michael Rodríguez and Anthony Venegas, who denounced Víquez for alleged sexual abuse, traveled to the northern country to try to find him, because the cause they presented prescribes next September. If by that date Víquez did not appear, he would dodge penalty.
Víquez has a pending complaint with the Prosecutor for Sexual Offenses as well as nine canonical complaints for the alleged crimes mentioned. In December, the Episcopal Conference received information about the criminal complaint against Víquez and would have notified him about it.
The nine canonical denunciations are for alleged sexual abuse against altar boys and are accompanied by two canonical denunciations against the Archbishop of San José Monseñor José Rafael Quirós for concealment, since he knew about the complaints against Víquez since 2003 and it was not until 2018 when he took action.
Víquez is not the only Costa Rican priest who has been issued an arrest warrant, the same thing happened with Enrique Vásquez, in 1998, when he left the country after being denounced for abuse.