A Mexican federal judge issued an arrest warrant for the governor of the border state of Tamaulipas for organized crime and money laundering charges. Authorities also ordered the freezing of accounts linked to the governor and various other individuals.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mexican Senator Ricardo Monreal Avila announced on social media that Mexico’s Attorney General (FGR) obtained an arrest warrant against Tamaulipas Governor Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca.
In a follow-up message, Monreal claimed that Cabeza de Vaca could have already fled the country.
While the FGR has not yet issued a statement, the head of Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) Santiago Nieto announced on social media that he ordered the freezing of accounts linked to 12 individuals and 25 companies linked to .
The warrant comes after much controversy between federal and state government bodies on whether Cabeza de Vaca has “fuero” (immunity) or not. As Breitbart Texas reported, Mexico’s Senate voted to remove his immunity and have him removed from office after an investigation by the FGR and the UIF in regards to alleged tax fraud, money laundering, and ties to organized crime. However, the Tamaulipas Congress held their own vote and voted against the measure leading to a federal versus state issue. Lawyers took that matter to Mexico’s Supreme Court but the case was dismissed. Since then, both sides claimed victory leading to further dispute as to which entity has the final say.
Following the announcement of the warrant, numerous politicians from the National Action Party (PAN), to which Cabeza de Vaca belongs, voiced their outrage at the move claiming the case against the governor is political in nature.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.