Pubdate: Sat, 16 Oct 2010
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: David Luhnow

QUESTIONS OVER TAPE FACE MEXICO POLITICIAN

MEXICO CITY - A taped telephone conversation between a person believed
to be a federal congressman and a drug lord has raised new questions
about the extent to which Mexican drug gangs have bought off
politicians and whether the politicians, if exposed, can even be punished.

Julio Cesar Godoy, a newly elected lawmaker from the leftist Party of
the Democratic Revolution, failed to turn up at Mexico's Congress on
Friday, a day after a radio station broadcast what it said was a
conversation between the congressman and Servando Gomez, a top
official in the La Familia drug cartel.

In a brief appearance in Congress on Thursday, Mr. Godoy denied that
he knew the drug lord, but evaded questions as to whether the voice on
the tape was his. Officials at the Attorney General's Office, which
handles prosecutions for federal crimes, declined comment.

The Godoy case has become a symbol to many Mexicans of the difficulty
in rooting out corruption of politicians by drug gangs, who are
fighting each other for turf and defending themselves against an
attack by the federal government of President Felipe Calderon.

Last year, the Attorney General's Office accused dozens of Michoacan
politicians, including Mr. Godoy as well as sitting mayors, judges and
prosecutors, of being on the payroll of La Familia, which is based in
that western state. Most of the cases, however, have since fallen
apart in court.

Mr. Godoy, the half brother of current Michoacan state Gov. Leonel
Godoy, was a candidate for federal congress at the time and was the
only one charged to have evaded arrest. He campaigned from hiding, won
his seat, and sneaked into Congress a few weeks ago to take the oath
of office. In so doing, he automatically gained immunity to
prosecution for crimes.

Federal prosecutors have vowed to go after Mr. Godoy despite his
immunity. Federal officials say they believe Mr. Godoy got some $2
million in bank deposits from the drug cartel over the years,
according to excerpts from the government case against the lawmaker
published on Friday by Mexican newspaper Excelsior. The Attorney
General's Office declined to discuss the allegation. Mr. Godoy
couldn't be reached for comment.

A congressional committee on Friday was due to discuss whether to
strip Mr. Godoy from his immunity as a lawmaker. But the committee
postponed the session until Monday after Mr. Godoy said he was
returning to Michoacan to care for his mother, who he said was ill.

In the leaked telephone conversation, said to have been taped last
year, the voice identified as that of Mr. Gomez pledges to support Mr.
Godoy in the election, and the two discuss everything from whether
informants were ratting them out to how to quiet a local reporter
writing critical stories about the PRD.

They appear to be on such friendly terms that they call one another
"compa" for compadre, a Mexican term used by close close friends for
the godfather of one's child.

"Compa, first of all, I want you to win, and you can count on all the
help you need," says the voice identified as Mr. Gomez, a former
schoolteacher who took up growing marijuana in the late 1990s,
according to federal officials.

On Thursday, Mr. Godoy accused the federal government of leaking the
tape in order to discredit him in the media after having failed so far
to convict him in court. The Attorney General's Office had no comment
on how the tape was leaked.

Mr. Godoy has enjoyed the support of his party until now, but on
Friday, the PRD's leader in the Senate, Carlos Navarrete, said Mr.
Godoy should confront the judicial charges against him.

The government's remaining cases against Michoacan politicians,
meanwhile, have fallen apart, and only one other suspect, a local
mayor, remains behind bars. The judges have said the cases were poorly
constructed, while Mr. Calderon's office has said it believes at least
one judge was bought off or intimidated by drug gangs.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D