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Tomás Jesús Yarrington Ruvalcaba ((:to̞ˈmas xe̞ˈsus ˈjarintõ̞n ruβ̞alˈkaβ̞a), born 7 March 1957) is a Mexican politician affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He held office as the Mayor of Matamoros from 1993 to 1995, and the Governor of Tamaulipas from 1999 to 2005. Yarrington sought nomination for the presidential elections for the PRI in 2005. Yarrington graduated with bachelor's degrees in economics and law from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies and the Autonomous University of Nuevo León respectively. He also received a master's degree in public administration from the University of Southern California. In 1991 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies and from 1993 until 1995 he served as mayor of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Later on he headed the local branch of the Revolutionary Institutional Party, joined the cabinet of Manuel Cavazos Lerma as state secretary of finance and served as governor of Tamaulipas (1999–2004). After leaving the governorship, Yarrington entered the presidential primaries by mid-2005. He was accused in early 2012 for laundering money for Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, after a drug cartel member was apprehended and informed the DEA that Yarringnton had ties with the leaders of the drug trafficking organizations. In addition, Yarrington was accused of plotting the assassination of Rodolfo Torre Cantú, the former candidate for state governor in Tamaulipas, along with the Gulf Cartel, which reportedly carried out the ambush that killed the politician. The Mexican authorities issued an arrest warrant and are currently searching for his whereabouts. ==Organized crime allegations== Yarrington's accusations of his criminal activities began in November 2011, when the slain body of a businessman and rancher named Alfonso Peña-Argüelles was publicly displayed in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.〔 Along with the body was a message left by Los Zetas accusing Peña-Argüelles' brother of laundering money for Yarrington. On 30 January 2012, the Attorney General of Mexico issued a communiqué ordering the past three governors of Tamaulipas — Manuel Cavazos Lerma, Eugenio Hernández Flores, and Tomás Yarrington — to remain in the country because they were being investigated for possible correlation with the Mexican drug cartels. After a court case in San Antonio, Texas, the U.S. federal agency known as the DEA accused Yarrington of laundering money for Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel from 1999 to 2004, his time as governor.〔 〕 This information was obtained after Antonio Peña-Argüelles, an alleged high-ranking drug cartel member, was arrested and claimed that Yarrington had "direct personal relationship with Zeta leaders." In addition, Yarrington was accused of plotting the assassination of Rodolfo Torre Cantú, the former candidate for governor in Tamaulipas' 2010 elections; the ambushed that killed Torre Cantú was allegedly carried out by Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, the supreme leader of the Gulf cartel. According to the DEA's protected witness, Torre Cantú was assassinated because he affected the interests of a construction company that the Gulf cartel was sponsoring. Moreover, ''Excélsior'' notes that Torre Cantú was also killed because he did not have a good relationship with Yarrington and did not guarantee agreements with the cartels.〔 However, Egidio Torre Cantú, the brother of Rodolfo, took his place and became the governor of Tamaulipas after his assassination, and allied with the Mexican Armed Forces to combat the cartels in hopes of avoiding what happened to his brother.〔 Yarrington was also accused of allegedly receiving money from Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former drug boss of the Gulf cartel, to finance his political campaign for the presidential campaign in 2005 against Roberto Madrazo; according to the reports of ''Animal Político'', Osiel asked Costilla Sánchez and Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, his associates, to send millions of dollars to Yarrington's collaborators, with hopes of escaping from prison if Yarrington became president, just like Joaquín Guzmán Loera (a.k.a. ''El Chapo''). In a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed in Corpus Christi on 12 May 2012, Yarrington is said to face forfeiture of a condominium he owns in South Padre Island that federal authorities believe he purchased with "illegally obtained funds" and under another name to avoid detection by law enforcement. Court records say that Yarrington used $450,000 from the Gulf cartel to pay the 14th floor unit. The indictment also alleged that a Mexican businessman known as Fernando Alejandro Cano Martínez used several corporate entities in Texas to launder money by the Gulf Cartel to pay top politicians in Tamaulipas.〔 These bribes were then paid to the politicians in Tamaulipas in exchange for little to no police intervention in the Gulf Cartel's trafficking and money laundering activities.〔 Cano Martínez is also accused of bank fraud because he obtained several bank loans with false information. The U.S. authorities are trying to confiscate Yarrington's condominium in South Padre Island and a 46-acre property in San Antonio, Texas. All these properties are believed to have been bought by Yarrington with drug proceeds from the Gulf Cartel, a criminal organization headquartered in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas (where he served as mayor).〔 The laundered money is believed to have granted the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas "political influence" in the state of Tamaulipas. Nonetheless, Yarrington has publicly acknowledged that he is subject of the probe but denied any links to organized crime.〔 〕 Yarrington's lawyer, in addition, said that the ex-governor has no connection with organized crime, and that the accusations against him are attempts made by other people in federal investigations to "improve their own situations." Yarrington has not been officially charged with any crimes, but U.S. federal prosecutors filed two civil forfeiture cases against him, seeking to seize more than $7 million U.S. dollars in properties.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tomás Yarrington」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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