Interim Governor Arrested on Drug Trafficking, Racketeering Charges in Mexico

A former interim governor of the southwestern state of Michoacan has been formally charged with drug trafficking and racketeering, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.

Jesus Reyna, 62, was taken into custody early last month.

Since then, according to the statement from the AG’s office, prosecutors have compiled affidavits and material evidence showing that the politician met on several occasions with organized crime figures.

A federal judge will ultimately decide whether Reyna, a member of Mexico’s governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, stands trial.

Reyna, who served as Michoacan’s interim governor when Fausto Vallejo took a six-month leave of absence for health reasons in April 2013, denies the allegations of criminal ties.

Even so, a one-time member of the Michoacan state legislature said last month that Reyna took part in a 2011 meeting of several politicians with the leader of the Caballeros Templarios drug cartel.

Though a video of kingpin Servando “La Tuta” Gomez Martinez’s 2011 encounter in the town of Tumbiscatio has been circulating on the Internet, the images are not clear enough to conclusively identify Reyna as one of the participants.

But former lawmaker Jose Martinez Pasalagua, who was himself present, said Reyna was there.

Martinez Pasalagua, who insists he was forcibly dragged to the session with La Tuta, said he doesn’t know whether Reyna attended voluntarily or under duress.

Opposition Sen. Luisa Maria Calderon, sister of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, was the first to denounce La Tuta’s meeting with several prominent Michoacan politicians, including Reyna, Martinez Pasalagua and the-then mayor of Tepalcatepec, Guillermo Valencia.

Of those named by Sen. Calderon, only Reyna and Valencia denied taking part in the discussions with La Tuta Gomez.

The drug lord wanted the politicians to help him place his allies as candidates for mayoralties and city council seats in municipal elections, Martinez Pasalagua said.

Reyna, according to Martinez Pasalagua, told La Tuta that what he wanted wasn’t possible, as the composition of the PRI ticket was controlled by the party’s national committee.

Federal security forces have occupied parts of Michoacan since mid-January in a push to take down the Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) and bring under control the armed militias that formed to defend communities from the cartel.

La Tuta Gomez is the only one of the Templarios reputed top leaders who remains at large.

Published in Latino Daily News

Source: http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/interim-governor-arrested-on-drug-trafficking-racketeering-charges-in-mexic/29885#When:21:02:01Z