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Mexico's second fugitive governor arrested in Guatemala

Xinhua, April 17, 2017 Adjust font size:

Mexicans cheered the arrest of Javier Duarte, the former governor of the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, who has been on the run for nearly six months, local media reported on Sunday.

Video posted on social networks showed diners at a restaurant in Veracruz breaking into cheers and applause as news footage of his arrest in Guatemala late Saturday was broadcast on TV.

Duarte, on the lam since last October, was the second fugitive governor captured in a week, after Italian authorities arrested the ex-governor of northern Tamaulipas state, Tomas Yarrington, last Sunday. He had been in hiding for nine years.

Both fled Mexico facing charges of corruption, illicit enrichment, money laundering and collaborating with drug trafficking organizations.

Both politicians were also prominent figures of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), leading to allegations from the opposition that the arrests were timed to give the PRI an advantage in upcoming regional elections.

The PRI is lagging behind rivals in key gubernatorial races for the states of Coahuila, Nayarit and Mexico State, and appearing to be clamping down on corruption for the purpose that it might convince voters it has turned a new leaf, say opponents. Endit