Thursday, July 13, 2017

Mexican Ex-Governor to be Extradited from Guatemala This Week
Former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte. | Photo: EFE

13 July 2017
Telesur

He faces accusations of corruption, organized crime, and charges alleging the use of state institutions to funnel public money into private companies.

Javier Duarte, a former Veracruz state governor in Mexico and close ally of President Peña Nieto is set to be returned to Mexico within a week to face charges of embezzlement and organized crime, the Guatemalan foreign ministry announced on Wednesday.

“Mexico has proposed July 17th at nine in the morning for the extradition,” Guatemalan foreign ministry spokesperson Tekandi Paniagua said.

The wanted former official belongs to the ruling PRI party of President Enrique Peña Nieto, and governed over a state riddled with violence stemming from organized crime. Under his rule, the oil-rich Veracruz state saw a massive spike in murder, violence, and kidnapping.

He faces accusations of corruption, complicity in organized crime, and state and federal charges alleging the use of state institutions to funnel public money into private companies.

Duarte, who was governor of Veracruz from 2010 until 2016, disappeared last year, and was arrested in April after months of being on the run as a fugitive. He has been held in a military prison in Guatemala ever since.

The disgraced former official has denied all wrongdoing, but has agreed to comply with his extradition.

“I have decided to comply with the formal request for extradition presented by the government of Mexico regarding federal crimes of operations with resources of illicit origin and organized crime,” he said earlier this month. However, he added that he “did not commit such crimes,” and it is his “wish to accredit this before the judicial power” of Mexico.

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