Tamaulipas Governor Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca. Photo: Google

By KELIN DILLON

At the request of Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR), a federal judge ordered the issuing of an arrest warrant against the National Action Party (PAN) governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca, for alleged actions of organized crime and money laundering.

Cabeza de Vaca has been the center of Mexican political news over the past months surrounding the investigation into his alleged financial crimes and ties with organized crimes, culminating in the arrest warrant on Wednesday, May 19.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) ordered all of the Tamaulipas official’s accounts to be frozen and the National Migration Institute (INM) put out an alert for his potential travel movements, as well as a request by the FGR to Interpol to track and extradite Cabeza de Vaca in the case that he tries to flee to a foreign country.

The FIU order likewise blocked the accounts of 12 individuals and 25 companies allegedly linked to Cabeza de Vaca and his supposed money laundering network, including those of his wife and mother, based on information given to Mexican intelligence by the U.S. Department of Justice “linked to banking irregularities, illegal money transfers and illicit operations.”

“I am aware that an arrest warrant has been issued against me, despite the fact that the Congress of Tamaulipas and the Supreme Court of Justice have determined that the protection granted by the Mexican Constitution of the Republic to a governor of a free and sovereign state remains in force and untouchable,” responded Cabeza de Vaca from his official Twitter account.

“It is no coincidence that the existence of the arrest warrant had been revealed by party members in the government. This only means that the decision to proceed against me was taken in the National Palace,” he said, referring to the public announcement of the warrant by members of the PAN-opposing leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena), Ricardo Monreal and Ignacio Mier.

The Tamaulipas governor went on to say that he would continue to defend himself against “false accusations” that “the majority in the government perversely set against me.” 

Meanwhile, details from the FGR’s investigation file into Cabeza de Vaca were released to the public, detailing the PAN official’s alleged offshore bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, purported meeting with infamous drug lord El Chapo and the large number of assets he holds in the United States.