THE mother of an innocent 20-year-old gunned down by mistake in Malaga last month has blamed the city’s runaway tourist flat boom for making it easier for drug mafia hitmen to hide.
Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Valera was sitting on a bench near his home on Calle Barcenillas on September 18 when three men reportedly linked to a Swedish narco gang approached and opened fire without warning.
He suffered gunshot wounds to his back and leg, with harrowing video footage of the incident showing the bloodied youngster crawling into a nearby Dia supermarket in Plaza Virgen del Rocio to seek help.
The 20-year-old later died in hospital.
Three men described in reports as Swedish nationals were arrested within 12 hours of the shooting after a major police operation across Malaga province.
Investigators believe the panicked suspects, who were sheltering in a nearby Airbnb, mistook Nacho for a rival gang member after seeing him sitting on the bench with a bag they thought contained a weapon.
It actually held personal belongings, CVs and an adrenaline pen used to treat his severe food allergy.
Exactly one month after his tragic death, Nacho’s mother has published a heartbreaking open letter demanding answers from politicians, the judiciary and the state over failures linked to her son’s murder.
“We’re talking about a boy of just 20 years old, murdered by hitmen, with absolutely nothing to do with that horrible criminal world,” she wrote.
She hailed her son as a ‘noble, good, educated, affectionate, clever boy, a lover of animals and music’ who was looking for work while awaiting a place at vocational college.
“He was very happy in his 20 years of life and was always surrounded by love,” she added.
But her letter also took aim at the unchecked growth of tourist accommodation in Malaga, arguing that a lack of regulation played a role in her son’s murder.
She wrote: “Malaga is dying of its own success, and one of the problems with how the city is managed is that the proliferation of tourist flats and the lack of control can make it easier for the hitmen of drug trafficking mafias to find places to hide.
“I am convinced that something like this could have been avoided with more responsible management.
“A voracious speculation and an absolute lack of control in the growth of our city has been allowed, with no limits or balance whatsoever.”
She also demanded an explanation from the judiciary after it was revealed that one of the suspects had already been arrested over a separate assassination attempt on the Costa del Sol in 2025.
The suspect, a man of Somali origin, appeared before a judge after allegedly supplying three pistols to two teenage hitmen sent to Fuengirola to carry out a targeted attack but was released pending trial.
“I want to know why one of my son’s alleged killers, who had previously been detained for attempted homicide, did not go to prison.
“I demand that the circumstances and decisions that made that situation possible be explained.
Despite her anger over the killing, Nacho’s mother took aim at malign actors using the suspects to fuel racial hatred.
“Focusing on the origin or skin colour of his killers would be a tremendous error,” she wrote.
“That is what simple minds do, afraid of those who are different.
“They are killers, full stop. They are not people from other countries who come looking for a better life – they are hitmen to whom other people’s lives matter little and who kill for money.”
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