Ex-governor of Chihuahua, Mexico wanted on corruption charges arrested in Miami
Police in Miami on Wednesday arrested the former governor of
the Mexican state of Chihuahua, Cesar Duarte, who is wanted on corruption
charges in his homeland, U.S. and Mexican officials said.
Duarte, who governed the northern border state from 2010 to
2016, has been accused by Mexican authorities of misappropriating public funds.
The Mexican attorney general's office said Duarte faced
extradition back to Mexico. Its statement came shortly after U.S. President
Donald Trump met with his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, at
the White House.
Duarte, who governed Chihuahua for the long-ruling
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), has previously denied wrongdoing.
Lopez Obrador said in January that the United States had
agreed to extradite Duarte. Interpol had issued a wanted notice for the former
governor.
Manny Puri, assistant chief for the U.S. Marshals Service in
South Florida, said Duarte was taken into custody by the Marshals' fugitive
task force in Miami "without any incidents."
Duarte was arrested on a U.S. warrant on behalf "of
Mexico for embezzlement and fraud," added Puri.
U.S. court documents said the allegations against Duarte
included irregularities in Chihuahua state subsidy programs and a transfer of
96,685,253 Mexican pesos (over $6.5 million in 2014) to two businesses where
Duarte was at times chairman.
Lopez Obrador, a leftist, took office in December 2018
pledging to stamp out corruption that plagued previous governments.
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