A cartel-linked former governor of Coahuila has been kicked out of his political party.
During a leadership meeting of Mexico’s Revolutionary Party (PRI), officials voted to kick out former governor Humberto Moreira. According to a news release, the revoking of Moreira’s membership came after he switched parties.
Breitbart Texas spoke with a Mexican political operative with privileged knowledge about the inner workings of the PRI in Mexico City. They revealed that during the process where Moreira’s membership was revoked, part of the discussion centered on alleged Los Zetas cartel connections. The concerns for the party dealt with the likeliness that the U.S. Department of Justice would soon go after Moreira just like they former Tamaulipas governors Tomas Yarrington and Eugenio Hernandez.
As Breitbart Texas previously reported, Tomas Yarrington and Eugenio Hernandez are currently wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice on multiple money laundering charges in connection with cartel bribes. Yarrington is also wanted on multiple drug trafficking and conspiracy charges. Earlier this month, Yarrington was arrested in Italy and is awaiting extradition. Hernandez continues to live in Mexico without prosecution, even though he is a wanted fugitive in the United States.
Moreira was the governor of Coahuila from 2005 to 2011 as a member of the PRI. He also served as the national president for the party during the 2011-2012 presidential campaign for current Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Moreira is the brother of current Coahuila Governor and PRI figure Ruben Moreira.
In March 2017, Humberto Moreira announced that he would be running for a plurinominal seat in Mexico’s congress for the Partido Joven or “Young Party”. According to Mexico’s Proceso Magazine, Partido Joven had been an ally in Coahuila of the PRI and several other smaller parties, but it broke rank in 2017 to launch various candidates, primarily Moreira.
As Breitbart Texas reported, during the 2016 trial of a key Los Zetas cartel leader, prosecutors were able to obtain testimony and evidence that during Moreira’s term, the entire state was controlled by the organization.
The statements made during that trial came months after Moreira spent approximately two weeks in a Spanish jail after authorities arrested him as part of a money laundering investigation. During a hearing, Spanish authorities identified Moreira as a Los Zetas surrogate but claimed their case was based on the ongoing investigation in the U.S. Most recently, former Mexican President Felipe Calderon accused Moreira of having protected Los Zetas as governor, Breitbart Texas reported.
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.
Breitbart Texas writer Tony Aranda contributed to this report.
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