This week, Claudia Sheinbaum, the presidential candidate for the Morena Party, visited various cities in Tamaulipas alongside other candidates. One of the candidates who made public appearances with her was Eugenio Hernandez Flores, a current candidate for Mexico’s Senate and a former governor of Tamaulipas. Flores is currently a fugitive of the U.S. Department of Justice. During his time in office, Hernandez allegedly allowed both the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas to flourish in exchange for hefty bribes and political support.
In a video shared on social media, a journalist asked Sheinbaum about the optics of campaigning with Hernandez in a state where people blame him for allowing organized crime to spread.
“Many families in mourning, many persons went missing, and the extortion,” the journalist said as Hernandez can be seen smiling. “The sir has no shame; he is just there standing, wanting to be a senator.”
The same individual also asked Sheinbaum about some of the current operators in her party who have been linked to large fuel theft operations.
As Breitbart Texas reported, Hernandez has been wanted in the U.S. Southern District of Texas on money laundering charges since 2015. Despite being a U.S. fugitive, Breitbart Texas broke the story in 2016, that Hernandez had been provided with state cops as his personal bodyguards while he lived a life of luxury in Mexico. In 2017, Tamaulipas authorities, then under an administration from a different party as Hernandez, arrested him on state embezzlement charges. After spending several years in jail fighting both the state charges and an extradition attempt by the U.S., a Mexican judge released Hernandez under suspicious circumstances before U.S. government officials could move to extradite the former governor.
Earlier this year, Herandez announced his run for senate, which would automatically grant him immunity from arrest by Mexican authorities. This action would prevent any future extradition attempts.
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.
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