“Diplomatic Scandal in Denver” Has Mexico Investigating Consulate for Bribery, Sexual Assault

Mexican national media has turned its attention to a “diplomatic scandal in Denver” as the country’s federal government investigates accusations of bribery and sexual harassment made against the Mexican consul general, Pável Meléndez Cruz.

Meléndez Cruz, who runs the Mexican Consulate in Denver, is under federal investigation in his home country for accusations of ignoring requests for consular services made by Mexican immigrants who were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and incarcerated at the Aurora ICE detention center. He’s also embroiled in an ongoing scandal fueled by accusations by former employees of sexual assault, labor rights violations and political retribution.

“This is someone we need to investigate closely,” says Javier Martinez Calzada, a Mexican immigrant and Denver activist who’s leading a local effort to remove Meléndez Cruz from his post. “This consulate is here to look after his interest, not the community, not the immigrants. …Our people don’t deserve this representation. This should be investigated to the best interest of the community and Mexican immigrants.”

Martinez Calzada started the federal investigation with a complaint made to Mexican authorities after he saw social media posts by families of detained Mexican immigrants and then reached out to them. He doesn’t want to share too many details while the investigation is ongoing, but claims that after he met with the families of detained migrants in August and began contacting Mexican authorities to complain on their behalf, Meléndez Cruz had local authorities in the United States retaliate against him.

“Some things I can’t disclose because you’re the media, but the [federal government in Mexico] has much more information and details. …It’s not just one thing. It’s multiple things,” he tells Westword.

The Mexican Consulate in Denver is responsible for connecting Mexican immigrants and U.S. citizens to federal help abroad, such as services needed for getting passports or visas or establishing a foreign residence. The Denver location is regional and serves Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. According to Mexican Foreign Relations Services, a federal agency, consulates must inform Mexican nationals detained in the U.S. of their rights and monitor their condition.

Mexican national media have been reporting on workplace and sexual assault accusations against Meléndez Cruz since May, when veteran journalist Dolia Estevez reported in Eje Central, a national outlet, that the Mexican Foreign Affairs Office reopened an investigation in March into a “diplomatic scandal in Denver” regarding sexual harassment and labor rights violations made against Meléndez Cruz.

Meléndez Cruz is not yet facing charges in the United States, according to the Mexican Consulate in Denver, but Martinez Calzada hopes to drag him into an American court.

On Monday, September 8, Martinez Calzada announced he plans to file a lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court in Colorado against Meléndez Cruz for defamation, harassment, conspiracy and interference. He’s seeking compensatory damages to be set at trial, and says the money would be for “my family, me and those of us who have suffered” from the alleged actions of the consul general.

“My People Need Attention Now”

Accusations that the consul general had been ignoring incarcerated immigrants surfaced on July 28, after news of the workplace investigation, in an article by LatinUS, a binational outlet. The families of three Mexican nationals detained at the Aurora ICE facility – David Davila, Guillermo Hernandez and Manuel Mendoza – told LatinUS that the consulate in Denver was ignoring their requests for visits and information on their rights and legal resources.

According to LatinUS, Davila has been in ICE detention in Aurora since February, Hernandez since March and Mendoza since July. Davila’s partner, Shawn Stevenson, told LatinUS that he had to find immigration lawyers on his own after being ignored by the Mexican consulate. Hernandez’s wife, Silvia Ramos, said that she called the consulate to request an appointment for her husband to meet with Mexican consular authorities, but they never responded. Mendoza’s wife, Concepcion Rios, told LatinUS she hasn’t heard back from the consulate either after asking them to visit her husband.

According to the Mexican government, at least 1,154 Mexican nationals have been detained by ICE from January to July this year. An August 11 article by the New York Times estimates that roughly 60,000 people are currently in ICE detention nationwide, while Colorado Congressman Jason Crow estimates between 1,300 to 1,400 people are detained in the Aurora ICE facility. The Washington Post reported on August 15 that ICE wants to increase its national detention capacity to about 100,000 people and add three more detention facilities in Colorado.

On August 25, Martinez Calzada made a formal complaint to the country’s attorney general (the Fiscalia General de la Republica, or FGR), accusing Meléndez Cruz of ignoring Mexican nationals detained by ICE as well as bribery and trafficking his influence, in part to keep people from speaking out.

“My people need attention now,” Martinez Calzada says. “It’s a very hard time with the Trump administration, where people and communities are suffering.”  

The FGR complaint by Martinez Calzada also accuses Miguel Angel Barradas, the consulate’s main legal consul, and Guillermo Concha, a deputy legal affairs specialist, of visiting Mexican citizens at their homes and in the Aurora ICE detention center to question them about statements against the consul.

Martinez Calzada is a Denver resident and dual U.S.-Mexican citizen who founded an activist group called Migrant Heroes Come First to support local immigrants. He’s often at large Denver protests against Trump and ICE waiving Mexican flags. Martinez Calzada says he traveled to Mexico City to submit his FGR complaint after he didn’t hear back from Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Office through most of August, but adds that the Mexican government has since asked him to return in mid-September to explain his accusations more.

Meléndez Cruz denied the allegations of bribery and ignoring ICE detainees against him and his two employees the day after Martinez Calzada submitted his FGR complaint. In a public statement from August 26, Meléndez Cruz said that consular officials conduct interviews at detention centers “at least three times a week” and stressed that protecting Mexicans is what matters most right now.

“It is a sensitive moment in which our community requires unity,” Meléndez Cruz said in his August 26 statement. “We must focus on what really matters: the well-being of the Mexican migrant community in the United States.”

Meléndez Cruz suggested in his statement that families of detainees may have been scammed. Detainees at the Aurora ICE facility have told Mexican consular officials “about having been approached by individuals who intend to practice the profession of lawyer irregularly or falsely identify themselves as representatives of the government of Mexico with the intention or profiting from their pain and despair,” according to Meléndez Cruz.

In an email sent to Westword on September 5, the Mexican Consulate in Denver says that an investigation is now underway against Meléndez Cruz, limiting his ability to comment, but he did say the following:

“I categorically deny such accusations,” part of his statement reads. “I’ve always conducted myself respectfully and with dignity to everyone and in strict abidance of the law. I regret that these accusations were made up without evidence, using false accusations based on personal and political interests. I trust the truth will prevail and that the justice system, based in due process and evidence, will know how to distinguish rumors and proven facts.”

Politics Involved

Meléndez Cruz was appointed to his office in January 2023 by the administration of former Mexican president Andres Manuel Obrador Lopez (known as AMLO), who founded the Movimiento Regeneración Nacional, or Morena (the National Regeneration Movement in English). The current Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is also a member of the Morena party, which is now the dominant political party in Mexico. Meléndez Cruz has been a member of Morena since 2013, when he was a state legislator in Oaxaca.

Meléndez Cruz suggested in his August 26 statement that the accusations of bribery and corruption are politically motivated. In an email to Westword, the Mexican Consulate in Denver described Martinez Calzada as someone “who tries to present himself as a lawyer,” which the activist in turn denied. 

“In consular representation, which I have the honor to direct, corruption, betrayal or theft of the people of Mexico will not be tolerated,” Meléndez Cruz said in his August 26 statement. “Even if it is intended to orchestrate campaigns of discredit with political motives.”

Accusations surrounding Meléndez Cruz have been covered by dozens of national Mexican news outlets since Martinez Calzada submitted his FGR complaint and held a press conference outside its offices in Mexico City.

The scandal raises questions of whether Morena can be trusted to stand up to President Donald Trump and protect Mexican nationals in the U.S. as he and his administration rev up a mass deportation plan. As LatinUS noted in its July 28 article, “these denunciations contrast with the promise expressed by President Claudia Sheinbaum.”

In February, Meléndez Cruz held a press conference in Denver to relay a public promise from Sheinbaum to protect Mexican nationals against ICE and Trump’s deporatation plans. Sheinbaum reinforced that promise with a declaration in July for greater protections for Mexican immigrants detained in the United States and increasing resources and hours for consulate offices.

According to Barradas, from January to July, the consulate saw the number of United States citizens requesting appointments to secure Mexican citizenship quadruple compared with the same period last year. The number of U.S. citizens seeking permanent resident visas to move to Mexico also increased by about 14 percent this year due to more Americans wanting to retire there.

Accusations of Sexual Assault, Retaliation at Work

In 2024, Meléndez Cruz was accused of sexual assault while on a work trip in Steamboat Springs the previous year. According to a police report dated November of 2024, Meléndez Cruz was accused of “firmly grabbing” one of his male employee’s buttocks during a work trip to the Colorado ski town in June 2023, only six months after he had been appointed as consul general in Mexico.

Meléndez Cruz allegedly created a “toxic work environment” after the employee rejected the physical advances, according to allegations included in the Steamboat Springs Police report. The employee, whose name is redacted, “resigned” from his job at the consulate in December 2023 after Meléndez Cruz allegedly made verbal threats and ignored his requests for days off, according to the report.

In a May 2023 email to Steamboat Springs Police included in the police report, the employee stated that the consulate declined to renew his contract and that he was seeking a visa or green card because his job loss affected his immigration status in the U.S. He also listed a handful of people willing to testify on his behalf.

The Steamboat Springs Police Department has yet to say whether Meléndez Cruz is facing any charges. In his statement to Westword, Meléndez Cruz denies the allegations and says that “I have not received any official notification” about the accusations and “I’ve only come to know them through social media.”

In her May article reporting a federal investigation in Mexico into the accusations, Dolia Estevez added accusations that Meléndez Cruz fired employees and forced out seventeen more to make room for supporters of Morena, which violates Mexican federal law.

The Mexican journalist also wrote that she has “a thick file on Meléndez” that includes testimony from former employees “who claim to have been victims of workplace and sexual harassment, notifications from [federal investigators] to the consul, internal audio recordings, letters to the [Mexican] National Human Rights Commission.”