MCALLEN, Texas — The latest scandal surrounding Mexican corruption and politics deals with Mexican authorities exonerating the brother of a former president who had been accused of ransacking millions out of the president’s secret account as well as making money through other corrupt means.
After more than 19 years of court battles and a short trip to jail, Raul Salinas De Gortari, the brother of former President Carlos Salinas De Gortari, was declared innocent of the charges against him, Mexico’s Reforma newspaper reported.
Salinas’ exoneration is the most recent court case that has left the Mexican public scratching their head at the apparent impunity with which people with ties to power are able to beat criminal accusations. Salinas had initially been jailed in 1995 accused of the financial crimes as well as of the murder of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, a former polititician who was one of the main power brokers of the time in Mexico until his execution in 1994.
As time went on, Raul Salinas started beating the many charges filed against him including the murder one and just last year on July 19, 2013, Mexican judge Carlos Lopez Cruz issued an absolution on the financial crimes. Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (PGR) filed an appeal which was just ruled against thus exonerating Salinas of all crimes.
In August 2013 another Mexican court released Rafael Caro Quintero, a legendary capo who ruled the Guadalajara which the original crime syndicate that later became the Sinaloa Cartel. Caro Quintero remains a fugitive in the U.S. wanted for the capital murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.
Just this summer, another Mexican court released Rogelio “El Kelin or Z2” Gonzalez Pizana one of the original Zetas who had been arrested in Matamoros in 2005 after a fierce firefight outside of a strip club.