A political scandal with counter accusations is burning in Juárez after the mayor’s home was seized in a raid by armed state investigators as part of a public corruption investigation.
Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar, who is currently on hiatus from office while running for reelection, said the seizure of his family’s home was “a media show” intended to hurt him politically during an April 24 news conference.
“I demand that the state government, the governor and her prosecutor, take their hands off the electoral process, what they have not done in three years (for Juárez), they are not going to achieve in a month or by applying bad pressure,” Perez said, according to La Verdad Juárez news site.
The Chihuahua state anti-corruption prosecutor strongly denied that the timing of the raid was linked to the mayoral race that kicked off this week.
Perez is the mayoral candidate for Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena political party and the Partido del Trabajador (Workers Party). Chihuahua Gov. Maru Campos is with the rival National Action Party, known as PAN. Mexico is in the middle of a presidential election campaigns.
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The mayor’s children were at home April 23 when more than a dozen agents with the Chihuahua state Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office arrived with an order to seize the house on Fresno Street in the upscale Campestre neighborhood, officials said.
The children and adults were allowed to exit the home before state agents entered, Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Abelardo Valenzuela Holguin said, adding that agents made sure not to violate anyone’s rights.
The mayor, his wife and children will have to reside elsewhere after the house was seized along with a neighboring house under construction. The family was allowed to take their personal property, the prosecutor said.
A man with an assault rifle slung across his chest could be seen standing on the roof of a building in a social media video showing law enforcement officers at the home. The man, who wore street clothes, was possibly a state agent.
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The mayor reportedly rents the house. La Verdad reported that the listed owner of both properties is Daniel Simon Pando Morales, a former public servant, who the prosecutor identified only by the initials “DSPM,” in keeping with rules in Mexico regarding the naming of crime suspects. There have been no arrests.
Perez called the anti-corruption prosecutor “a liar and a coward” and added that he will not withdraw from the mayoral race. Perez said he was never notified about the investigation until the surprise raid, which he described as “ridiculous” since the case appears to focus on the property owner.
Anti-corruption prosecutor: ‘There is no political persecution’
Valenzuela, the anti-corruption prosecutor, forcefully denied the raid was politically motivated. He said the seizure of the properties were part of an investigation into “illicit enrichment.”
“Absolutely, there is no political persecution,” Valenzuela said at a news conference Tuesday night, April 23, adding that the public “should be careful not to fall into the agenda” of election politics, political parties and “some media outlets.”
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The property seizures were done in accordance with the law as part of the ongoing public corruption investigation, Valenzuela said.
Nobody has the right to get rich at the cost of the public money that belongs to the citizens of Juárez, Chihuahua and Mexico, he added.
