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Mexican Businessman in Scandal Arrested
MEXICO CITY, 30 (AP) - A businessman at
the heart of a corruption scandal implicating
the administration of Mexico City's popular
mayor was arrested Tuesday in Cuba, prosecutors
said.
Carlos Ahumada is the businessman widely
seen on publicized videotapes handing out
wads of cash to the former secretary of
Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and to
a borough leader belonging to Lopez Obrador's
leftist Democratic Revolution Party.
Ahumada later admitted to making the videotapes
himself because he said city officials were
extorting him.
Ahumada fled the country and arrived in
Cuba on Feb. 27, federal organized crime
prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos
told a news conference. On March 10, authorities
issued a warrant for his arrest on fraud
charges and declared him a fugitive. His
whereabouts were unknown until his capture
on Tuesday.
Mexico City prosecutors are investigating
construction companies owned by Ahumada
for allegations they collected $3 million
in government funds for work that was never
completed.
Vasconcelos said Mexico does not have an
extradition treaty with Cuba, but the Attorney
General's office for which he works later
issued a news release saying such a treaty
did exist and they would use it to pursue
Ahumada's extradition. Cuban officials did
not comment immediately.
The video scandal has led to the resignations
of party officials and public servants and
has provoked a sharp decline in the approval
ratings of Lopez Obrador, who had been seen
as a potential leading presidential contender
in 2006.
Migrant Released From Hospital
Tue Mar 30, WPLG.
One of the three migrants who survived
a dangerous journey from Cuba is out of
the hospital.
The U.S. Border Patrol took Carlos Hernandez
from Holy Cross Hospital to the Krome Detention
Center Monday night. He could be released
some time today.
He and two other migrants made it to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
in innertubes Thursday. Five others died
at sea.
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