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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                            PRESS CONTACT:

November 3, 2014                                                        Brenda Lopez 956.544.8352

                                                                                                                                        

No Attorney General Should be Confirmed Unless They Are Committed to Extradition of Indicted Mexican Governor

 

By Congressman Filemon Vela (D-Brownsville)

 

The President of the United States will soon be nominating an individual to replace Attorney General Eric Holder.  In my view, any  potential appointee must be committed to the extradition of the indicted former governor of Tamaulipas, Tomas Yarrington.

 

In December of 2013, a federal indictment filed in the Southern District of Texas-Brownsville Division was unsealed.  According to the indictment, Yarrington received large bribes from drug trafficking organizations such as the Gulf Cartel to allow them to operate their criminal enterprises in the state of Tamaulipas freely.

 

Specifically, the indictment charges Yarrington with conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to defraud, and conspiracy to make false statements to federally insured U.S. banks.  Additionally, Yarrington is charged with conspiracy to violate the provisions of the Controlled Substances Act, two substantive bank fraud charges, and conspiracy to structure currency transactions at a domestic financial institution.

 

Already, millions of dollars worth of assets produced by the racketeering enterprise lead by Yarrington have been seized by the United States, including a condominium on South Padre Island and an airplane.

 

It has been more than ten months since the scathing Yarrington indictment was unsealed.  Yet, no formal extradition request to my knowledge has been made from the U.S. State Department to the government of Mexico to bring Yarrington to Brownsville to stand trial.

 

Indicting and extraditing those who have fueled the violence in Mexico must be a top priority of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. State Department.

 

In a travel warning updated in October of 2014, the State Department warns, “Matamoros, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, and Ciudad Victoria have experienced numerous gun battles and attacks with explosive devices in the past year.  Violent conflicts between rival criminal elements and/or the Mexican military can occur in all parts of the region and at all times of the day.  The number of reported kidnappings for Tamaulipas is among the highest in Mexico, and the number of U.S. citizens reported to the consulates in Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo as being kidnapped, abducted, or disappearing involuntarily in the first half of 2014 has also increased.” 

 

For the last century and a half, residents of Northern Mexico and South Texas enjoyed a bicultural experience where crossing to work, eat, shop or visit family and friends was a part of everyday life.  This way of life has now been ripped apart.  Extraditing Yarrington to the U.S. to stand trial in Brownsville will not solve all of the security problems in Northern Mexico, but it will send a strong message that we demand that those whose criminal acts have destabilized Mexico be held accountable.

 

Thus, my question to any person President Obama might nominate, if you were to become Attorney General, how committed would you be to extraditing Tomas Yarrington to the U.S. to stand trial?

 

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