REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — Mexican state authorities arrested a former governor after the United States accused him of money laundering in Texas and accepting cartel bribes.
The Tamaulipas government confirmed to Breitbart Texas that agents with their Attorney General’s Office arrested former governor Eugenio Hernandez Flores in connection with a case related to embezzlement and money laundering. The arrest occurred in Ciudad Victoria.
The case against Hernandez involves the alleged use of straw-men to carry out the illicit purchase of a tract of land in Altamira, Tamaulipas, measuring 1,600 hectares that originally belonged to the State. The governor is accused of paying approximately one percent of the fair market value of the property. The purchase was done through a series of legal maneuvers to take the land from being federal property to state property and then unloading it. The land was originally billed as an inter-coastal channel development aimed at promoting commerce.
In the U.S., Hernandez is wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with various money laundering charges linked to embezzlement and cartel bribes. As Breitbart Texas reported, the Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration consider Hernandez a fugitive.
Hernandez is the second Tamaulipas governor to be formally charged in a U.S. court. Former Governor Tomas Yarrington is currently in an Italian jail fighting extradition to Texas. As Breitbart Texas reported, Yarrington is wanted on money laundering and drug conspiracy charges for his role in hiding cartel bribes and helping the Gulf and Los Zetas operate in his state. After U.S. authorities and Italian cops arrested Yarrington, the Mexican government tried to take credit and send Yarrington home but Mexico City eventually reversed course.
Despite being wanted in the U.S., Hernandez and Yarrington were living in Mexico with state-funded bodyguards provided by another former governor who is also a member of Mexico’s Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.