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Former Chihuahua Gov. César Duarte was extradited Thursday to Mexico, where he faces public corruption charges, Mexican federal authorities said.
Duarte is accused of conspiring to divert more than 96 million pesos ($4.9 million in current U.S. dollars) in public funding from 2011 to 2014 during his time as governor, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said.
Duarte’s return to Mexico had been tied up in legal maneuvering since he was arrested in Miami by the U.S. Marshals Service in 2020 on Mexican warrants.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday that the U.S. government had turned Duarte over to Mexican authorities. In keeping with policy, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office gave his name only as “César D.”
El Universal newspaper reported that Duarte was expected to arrive Thursday evening on a flight to an airport in Mexico City.
Duarte, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was governor of Chihuahua from 2010-16.
Current Chihuahua Gov. Maria Eugenia “Maru” Campos of the National Action Party, or PAN, praised the extradition in a video statement, saying that in her administration there would be “no forgiveness nor forgetting” for ex-governors accused of corruption.
In 2017, Duarte reportedly fled over the border to El Paso following the launch of one of several investigations into irregularities and political corruption.
In 2018, Chihuahua state officials opened a new investigation into Duarte and dozens of officials from his administration centered on the possible diversion of the equivalent of about $320 million in government funds in 2016, when Duarte was governor, the Associated Press reported.
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Daniel Borunda may be reached at 915-546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.
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