Former Sonoran Gov. Guillermo Padres 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 Padres 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.
Desde el primer día como Gobernadora expresé enérgicamente mi postura contra quienes traicionaron la confianza de los sonorenses y la sostengo. Hoy, un Juez Federal tomó una decisión con la que no estamos de acuerdo. Mi sentir siempre estará del lado de los sonorenses.
— Claudia Pavlovich A. (@ClaudiaPavlovic) February 3, 2019
On Twitter she wrote that she is against those who “betray the trust of the Sonoran people.”
Hermosillo Mayor Celida Lopez, on the other hand, tweeted her support for Padres’ family and said that his mistakes “are not mine, but he won’t stop being my friend because of them.”
Finalmente @LillyTellez
— CELIDA LÓPEZ (@CelidaLopezc) February 3, 2019
Hay políticos que por conveniencia niegan amistades. Yo retomo una frase llena de sabiduría.
“Soy muy amiga de mis amigos, pero no soy dueña de mis amigos”
Los errores de Guillermo Padres son de el no míos, pero no por ello deja de ser mi amigo.
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.
