Tomás Jesús Yarrington Ruvalcaba (Spanish pronunciation: [toˈmas xeˈsus ˈʝarinton ruβalˈkaβa], born 7 March 1957) is a Mexican politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Later on, he headed the local branch of the Revolutionary Institutional Party, joined the cabinet of Manuel Cavazos Lerma as state secretary of finance, and served as governor of Tamaulipas (1999–2004).
In addition, Yarrington was accused of plotting the assassination of Rodolfo Torre Cantú, the former candidate for state governor in Tamaulipas, along with the Gulf Cartel, which reportedly carried out the ambush that killed the politician.
Yarrington's accusations of his criminal activities began in November 2011, when the slain body of a businessman and rancher named Alfonso Peña-Argüelles was publicly displayed in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.
[1] On 30 January 2012, the Attorney General of Mexico issued a communiqué ordering the past three governors of Tamaulipas – Manuel Cavazos Lerma, Eugenio Hernández Flores, and Tomás Yarrington – to remain in the country because they were being investigated for possible correlation with the Mexican drug cartels.
After a court case in San Antonio, Texas, the U.S. federal agency known as the DEA accused Yarrington of laundering money for Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel from 1999 to 2004, his time as governor.
[2] This information was obtained after Antonio Peña-Argüelles, an alleged high-ranking drug cartel member, was arrested and claimed that Yarrington had "direct personal relationship with Zeta leaders.
[11] The indictment also alleged that a Mexican businessman known as Fernando Alejandro Cano Martínez used several corporate entities in Texas to launder money by the Gulf Cartel to pay top politicians in Tamaulipas.
[14] All these properties are believed to have been bought by Yarrington with drug proceeds from the Gulf Cartel, a criminal organization headquartered in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas (where he served as mayor).
[16] Yarrington's lawyer, in addition, said that the ex-governor has no connection with organized crime and that the accusations against him are attempts made by other people in federal investigations to "improve their own situations.
[19] Fernando Alejandro Cano Martínez, a businessman from Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, and an alleged financial operator of the Gulf cartel, was indicted for conspiracy to launder money and commit bank fraud on 22 May 2012.
[20] The indictment charges Cano Martínez with using a number of corporations in Texas to launder money for the Gulf Cartel, a drug trafficking organization in Mexico, to then using millions of dollars as bribes for politicians in Tamaulipas.
[28] According to government reports, a man known as Alberto Berlanga Bolado – owner of the GMC, SA de CV and former functionary during Hernandez's time in office, was linked to money laundering and bribes from the Gulf cartel on 26 May 2012.
[29] In another case in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, on 29 May 2012, the Mexican authorities detained Eduardo Rodríguez Berlanga (La Conga), the owner of Constructora Janambres SA de CV and alleged money launderer and straw purchaser of Yarrington.
[40] The agency report, issued on 1 August 2012, indicates that a political campaign manager of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) personally met with several cartel leaders because they "needed the money.
In addition, during Yarrington's time as mayor of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, he developed a close friendship with George W. Bush, former governor of Texas and ex-president of the United States.