/ Modified feb 5, 2019 12:24 p.m.

Former Governor of Sonora Released From Jail

Guillermo Padrés had been held in Mexico City since 2016 over charges of money laundering and organized crime.

Guillermo Padres Elias Guillermo Padrés, former governor of the Mexican State of Sonora, in 2009.
Guillermo Padrés Elías/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Former Sonoran Gov. Guillermo Padrés will now fight criminal charges outside of a jail cell.

The ex-member of the conservative PAN party was released over the weekend after family members mortgaged properties to cover his bail. Facing money laundering and organized crime charges, Padres turned himself in in November 2016 and had been held in Mexico City until his release Saturday.

“Finally, the law has been followed,” said Sonoran PAN head Ernesto Munro. He and other Padrés supporters have long argued that pretrial detention was inappropriate in the case, and applauded his release.

The news was not welcomed by current Sonoran Gov. Claudia Pavlovich, a member of the PRI party who succeeded Padres in 2015.

On Twitter she wrote that she is against those who “betray the trust of the Sonoran people.”

Hermosillo Mayor Célida López, on the other hand, tweeted her support for Padrés’ family and said that his mistakes “are not mine, but he won’t stop being my friend because of them.”

Lopez is a member of the left-leaning Morena party, but was previously a member of Padres’ PAN party. Other Morena members criticized her conciliatory message.

Fronteras Desk
This story is from the Fronteras Desk, a collaboration of Southwestern public radio stations, including NPR 89.1. Read more from the Fronteras Desk.
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