MEXICO CITY – Mexico has a long history of corrupt fugitive governors, including one who was arrested in Italy just last week, but former Veracruz Gov. Javier Duarte stands out.
Since his arrest in Guatemala Saturday, a video clip from 2012 has been circulating in which then-presidential candidate and now President Enrique Pena Nieto names Duarte as part of a new generation of politicians from the Institutional Revolutionary Party that will be its future.
Duarte, 43, was part of a wave of PRI governors in 2010 that would later propel Pena Nieto — himself also a young PRI governor — into the presidency two years later.
But things spiraled out of control for Duarte. On Monday, he was waiting in a Guatemalan military prison for his initial appearance before a judge on Wednesday.
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