Pubdate: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Copyright: 2012 The Dallas Morning News, Inc. Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117 Author: Alfredo Corchado DEA Investigation FILING: MEXICAN POLITICIANS GOT CARTEL MONEY Businessman, Now in U.S. Custody, Accused of Playing Middleman A Mexican businessman is in U.S. custody, accused of money laundering and serving as a liaison between drug cartels and powerful politicians, including a former governor who allegedly received millions of dollars in exchange for protecting the criminals, according to a 14-page court filing in Texas. Four confidential informants told the Drug Enforcement Administration that Antonio Pena-arguelles was paid millions by leaders of the Gulf cartel and the Zetas to help influence politicians, including Tomas Yarrington, the former governor of Tamaulipas state, which borders Texas. Pena-arguelles was arrested Wednesday in San Antonio, the document says. Yarrington declined to comment Friday. Last November, the Zetas allegedly killed Pena-arguelles' older brother, Alfonso, after Antonio failed to pay back $5 million that the criminal organization had given him to pay politicians, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Antonio. The money was meant for "politics," but the process turned into "lies," according to the document, citing a text message allegedly sent by Zetas leader Miguel Trevino Morales to Pena-arguelles the day his brother's body was discovered near a popular monument in Nuevo Laredo. "There will not be a safe place for you, Mr. Tono, so good luck," the text allegedly said. "Don't be an idiot and pay attention to whom you rob." A former employee of PenaArguelles, listed as one of the informants, allegedly witnessed Pena-arguelles and Yarrington arguing over money at Pena-arguelles' home in San Antonio, one of several properties, along with vehicles, paid for in cash through illicit proceeds, according to the court filing. Authorities said that they have discovered as much as $10 million in bank accounts linked to Pena-arguelles in U.S. states, including Texas and California. Yarrington and two other former governors from Tamaulipas - Eugenio Hernandez and Manuel Cavazos - are under investigation by Mexico's attorney general in connection with unspecified federal crimes. The governors, all members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, have acknowledged that they were subjects of the inquiry. The former governors and the PRI have said that the allegations are politically motivated attacks by the government of President Felipe Calderon to retain power in the July presidential election. The PRI governed Mexico for 71 years, until 2000, and Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN, stands in the way of the PRI returning to power. The PRI'S presidential candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, is heavily favored in the election, although recent polls have shown him losing some of his luster with voters. Calderon's party seized on the court filing as evidence that the PRI has links to organized crime. "For months the National Action Party has expressed its concern about the evidence constantly coming to light that current and former PRI governors could be allowing organized crime groups to operate," Gustavo Madero, chairman of the PAN'S national executive committee, told reporters. The head of the PRI, Joaquin Coldwell, also responded. "Every party member is responsible for his own conduct and behavior, and each party member must carry out his own legal defense," Coldwell said. "What we ask for in this case and others that present themselves ... is that the justice system isn't used in a partisan way, for electoral purposes, and that the constitutional rights of the people who are investigated are respected." Politicians have long been under pressure from cartels in Tamaulipas. In 2010, gunmen believed linked to one of the cartels ambushed a convoy carrying the leading PRI gubernatorial candidate, Rodolfo Torre, killing him and four of his companions. Torre's brother then ran for the governorship and won. Tamaulipas first exploded in violence in 2003, when the Gulf cartel, then allied with the Zetas, battled rival cartels to take over drug distribution routes through Laredo and onto Interstate 35. The state has since suffered brutal violence that is rarely reported because residents and the local media have been largely silenced by the control that the criminal groups hold over the area. The Associated Press contributed to this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom