WASILLA -- Erick Cordero will never again see his older brother alive.
The Mexican-born Palmer resident, a past Mat-Su school board member and former chief of staff for state Rep. Lynn Gattis, R-Wasilla, learned Tuesday that his brother, Victor Hugo Cordero, died Monday night in a prison in the Mexican state of Durango.
Erick Cordero, 40, and now a real estate licensee and political consultant in the Valley, flew to Mexico City Wednesday to help his family deal with the death, the grief -- and a human-rights complaint perhaps forever left unfinished.
Victor Hugo Cordero, 53, was a police chief in Durango when he was arrested in January 2013. His family believes drug cartels were involved and that his captors tortured him.
"The last time I talked to him -- it's hard to tell because there were always people next to him listening and recording our phone calls -- he seemed to be OK," Cordero said by phone as he waited for a connecting flight to Mexico through Atlanta. "I just talked to him on Saturday."
The elder Cordero, 53, was arrested with the entire police department of the Municipality of Gomez Palacios when an attorney general came to the station with army backup and confiscated the department's weapons, according to a January story in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Cordero's family believes he was forced to sign a confession that he worked with drug gangs. The family received death threats and released prisoners described Victor Cordero's torture.
His younger brother believes the drug cartels wanted to dismantle the department and replace them with officers friendlier to cartel activity.
Cordero, who was working for Gattis in Juneau when his brother was imprisoned, eventually resigned over the stress of juggling the job and the pressure of trying to free his brother.
He started a petition in January to draw attention to his brother's case. He sent it to human rights observers, including Amnesty International.
"A report produced by Durango's Human Rights Commission asserted in February 2014 that Cordero was physically and emotionally abused. Captain Cordero was hit multiple times resulting in a dislocated hip, electronically shocked and had needles inserted in his nails," part of an updated petition reads.
The Mexican Consulate in Anchorage didn't respond to a request for information Wednesday about whether or not they had any involvement in the case.
The family couldn't see the former police chief because of "safety issues," Cordero said. Instead they were limited to brief, twice-weekly phone calls. Then Cordero's sister was notified this week of Victor Cordero's death by what was described as heart trouble.
Cordero said the family had received a document indicating a Mexican federal agency was considering an investigation of state officials over the issue.
"But of course, now the victim is gone," he said.
The family was en route Wednesday to a medical examiner's office in hopes of transferring Victor Cordero's body to Mexico City.
Erick Cordero has established a Go Fund Me account to help his mother and sister defray funeral costs.
As he waited for his flight to depart from Atlanta Wednesday, Cordero sounded matter-of-fact but still in shock over his brother's death.
"The family's wishes is to clean his name but at the same time, we know that could also be dangerous," Cordero said.