LOCAL RIPPLES AS THREE FORMER TAMPS. GOVS (AND RELATIONS) ARE UNDER COUNTRY ARREST

By Juan Montoya

The announcement by Mexico's PGR (Procuraduria General de la Republica) that it was restricting three former Tamaulipas governors and 43 other people related to their tenure in office to Mexican territory has sent ripples across the Rio Grande.

At least one – Tomas Yarrington Rubalcava – was also a former Matamoros mayor with close ties to Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley. His term ended in 2004. At last report, he was sighted  in Texas and eluded the immigration restriction imposed upon him.

The other two Eugenio Hernandez Flores, who left office in 2010, and Manuel Cavazos, who left office in 1999, There have long been suspicions that state officials may have favored the once-dominant Gulf cartel, but that has never been proven. Hernandez was interviewed in Mexico City and was adamant he was not guilty of any wrongdoing.
Cavazos, interviewed in the Tamaulipas capital of Cuidad Victoria said they were the victims of a "dirty war" waged by the government for political reasons.

The news of the immigration prohibition against the three and 43 others including some journalists, camr to light after a directive was issued to customs and airports and these issued directives to implement the restrictions. It is unknown whether it includes the owners of newspapers, their employees or news room reporters.

A Tamaulipas airport supervisor was fired for issuing a memo identifying those named in the PGR list.The PGR (the US equivalent of the Attorney General’s Office) has not said why the former officials are being investigated, but by necessity it would involve federal crimes. Organized crime, drug trafficking and money laundering are all considered federal offenses in Mexico.

The statement did not name the officials, but the three former Tamaulipas governors confirmed that they had been targeted in the probe.  Hernandez, who left office in 2010, and denied any links to organized crime.

And Yarrington, whose term ended in 2004, wrote in a Twitter account linked to his website that he had learned he had been named in the case, and said he hoped authorities would explain why.

Cavazos, who left office in 1999, told El Universal that the investigation was “suspicious ... coming in an election campaign,” and suggested it might have political overtones. He denied any wrongdoing.All the former governors are members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which held Mexico’s presidency for 71 years until President Felipe Calderon’s National Action Party won the 2000 presidential elections.

 Hernández Flores is the outgoing Tamaulipas governor and is part of the campaign team of front runner PRI Mexico presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto.

While Matamoros mayor, Yarrington was said to have large holdings on the U.S. side and Cavazos was linked to a large road construction enterprise that went bankrupt while holding multi-million dollar state contracts. Those projects were never finished.

A local businessman with wide ranging contacts in Mexico said that among some of those on the lists were people who have expensive properties in the Rio Grande Valley, including homes in McAllen, Brownsville, Rancho Viejo and South Padre Island.
Although media reports indicate that the other 43 persons named in the PGR missive were not available, the Monterey-based El Norte pub;lished a full lista nd their relatiosn to the three PRI former governors.

Related to Eugenio Hernandez:
Adriana Gonzalez de Hernandez, wife
Elsa Eugenia y Jose Eduardo Hernandez Flores, sister and brother
Alma Lucresia Cano Pastor, sister of Lucia Cano Pastor, ex-delegate of the Public Education Secretariat
Alfredo Sandoval Musi, Ex-Subsecretary of Outlays (Egresos)
Carlos Montiel Saeb, local ex-State Representative, (Diputado)
Manuel Muñoz Cano, ex-Secretary of Social Development
Oscar Luebbert Gutierrez, ex-mayor of Reynosa
Ramon Duron Diaz, director of Tamaulipas Adult Education Institute
Rene Castillo de la Cruz, local representative for the PVEM (?)
Ricardo Garmundi Rosas, ex-director of the PRI-Tamaulipas
Seyed Mohammas Farough Faterni Corcuera, businessman

Related to Tomas Yarrington:
Marco Antonio Yarrington Rubalcava, brother
Maria Antonia Morales Loo, wife of Yarrington
Genaro Antonio Morales Loo, brother-inlaw
Alfonso Salazar Arazola, ex-director of Tourism and International Affairs
Alfredo Perez Salinas, ex-government representative
Daniel Sampayo Sanchez, ex-private secretary
Fernando Tomas Cayuela Villarreal, ex-state prosecutor
Genaro Alberto Quijano, ex-administrator of Social Communications
Jorge Max Castillo, former prosecutor
Manuel Montiel Govea, ex-director fo Social Communications
Pedro Alfonso Garcia, editor of state media
Ramiro Garcia Cavazos, ex-collaborator
Ramon Duron Ruiz, ex-Prosecutor
*Sergio Ramon Arguelles Gutierrez, businessman
Fernando Alejandro Cano Martinez, businessman
*Sergio Arguelles is one of Martamoros' most prominent businessmen and is related by marriage to Roberto Montemayor, a businessman with extensive business and real estate holdings in Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley, including numerous properties in Rancho Viejo, South Padre Island and McAllen

Related to Cavazos Lerma:
Jose Guadalupe Herrera Bustamante, former state prosecutor and magistrate of state Suprem Court

Others:
Alfonso de la Garza
Carola del Rosario Cano MArtinez
Guillermo Hector Cano Valdez
Gabriel Maldonado Pumarejo
Isela Alejandra Alfaro
Eduardo Rodriguez Berlanga
Jose Monrooy Zorrivas
Juan Manuel Sanchez Guerrero
Lucia Cecilia Cano Martinez
Marco Antonio Cano Valdez
Mauricio Bernando Gonzalez Fernandez
Miguel Alberto Treviño Guevara
Ramiro Rodriguez Cavazos
Raul Morales Cano