Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, sometimes known as "El Chueco",''Chueco'' is a Spanish adjective meaning "crooked"; it was originally a reference to Villanueva's facial features which are affected by some sort of facial paralysis
UNESCO.
/ref> (born 2 July 1948) is a Mexican politician who built an important political career within the ranks of the

Partido Revolucionario Institucional The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...

(PRI). From 1993 to 1999 he served as the fourth

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo ( , ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 mu ...

. Accused of drug trafficking at the end of his gubernatorial period, he did not arrive at the ceremony at which he was to hand the office over to his elected successor, Joaquín Hendricks Díaz, and remained a fugitive from justice for two years. He served a six-year prison sentence, and was extradited to the United States on 8 May 2010.Mexican ex-gov pleads not guilty to US drug counts

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

, 10 May 2010.

Professional and political career

Born in

Chetumal Chetumal (, , ; yua, label= Yucatec Maya, Chactemàal , ) is a city on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is the capital of the state of Quintana Roo and the municipal seat of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco. In 2020 ...

, Villanueva studied agronomy at the

Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua , mottoeng = Strive to achieve, achieve to give , established = 8 December 1954 , type = Public university , rector = Heliodoro Araiza Reyes (Interino) , faculty = , staff = , ...

. He was elected '' presidente municipal'' (mayor) of

Benito Juárez, Quintana Roo Benito may refer to: Places * Benito, Kentucky, United States * Benito, Manitoba, Canada * Benito River, a river in Equatorial Guinea Other uses * Benito (name) * ''Benito'' (1993), an Italian film See also * ''Benito Cereno'', a novella by Herm ...

, in 1990 (the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

that includes

Cancún Cancún ( ), often Cancun in English (without the accent; or ) is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat ...

) but resigned that position the following year to contest a seat representing Quintana Roo in the federal Senate, which he won. He resigned as senator to run for governor of the state, to which he was elected in 1993.

Governor of Quintana Roo

During his time as governor he promoted the development of the

Riviera Maya The Riviera Maya () is a tourism and resort district south of Cancun, Mexico. It straddles the coastal Federal Highway 307, along the Caribbean coastline of the state of Quintana Roo, located in the eastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. ...

tourist area, located to the south of Cancún. In 1993 he created the new municipality of

Solidaridad The Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation founded in 1969. Its main objective is facilitating the development of socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains. It operates through eight regio ...

in that region, with its municipal seat in

Playa del Carmen Playa del Carmen, known colloquially as 'Playa', is a resort city located along the Caribbean Sea in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is part of the municipality of Solidaridad. As of 2020, the city's population was just over 300,000 peopl ...

Criminal allegations

Criminal charges accusing Villanueva of involvement in cocaine shipments passing through his state were filed while he was still serving as governor. Federal

Assistant Attorney General Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general. The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...

Mariano Herrán Mariano is a masculine name from the Romance languages, corresponding to the feminine Mariana. It is an Italian, Spanish and Portuguese variant of the Roman Marianus which derived from Marius, and Marius derived from the Roman god Mars (see als ...

interviewed him at the governor's mansion in

. Fearing that he would be arrested at the end of his governorship, when his immunity ''(

fuero (), (), () or () is a Spanish legal term and concept. The word comes from Latin , an open space used as a market, tribunal and meeting place. The same Latin root is the origin of the French terms and , and the Portuguese terms and ; all ...

)'' expired, he disappeared from public view two weeks before the hand-over date.Former Mexican Governor Could Face U.S. Drug Trial
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', 22 June 2007. He was arrested over two years later, on 24 May 2001, in a chance vehicle inspection near Cancún.Ex-Mexico Governor Arrested and Linked to Cocaine Traffic
Tim Weiner, 26 May 2001. He was convicted of

money-laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

offences (but cleared of drug-trafficking and organized crime charges) and spent six years in the Altiplano High-Security Prison in

Almoloya de Juárez Almoloya de Juárez is a town in the State of Mexico and the seat of the municipality of Almoloya de Juárez. The name Almoloya comes from the Nahuatl, that is properly ''Almoloyan'', composed of: atl, "water"; molo "impersonal voice of moloni, ...

Estado de México The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

. He was released on 21 June 2007 but was immediately taken back into custody to face proceedings under an

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

requestEx-Mexico Governor Re-Arrested for Drugs
''The Washington Post'', 21 June 2007. filed by the

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

on charges related to cocaine trafficking.Mario Villanueva Madrid Case
, Procuraduría General de la República, 18 August 2007. After a lengthy process that included the lodging of '' amparo'' constitutional relief remedies, the extradition request was granted by the

Secretariat of Foreign Affairs The Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs ( es, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, ''SRE'', lit: Secretariat of External Relations) is the government department responsible for Mexico's foreign affairs. Mexico currently has 80 embassies, 3 ...

on 7 November 2007.Concede SRE extradición de Villanueva
''El Universal'', 7 November 2007. On 4 June 2008, while in custody awaiting extradition to the United States, a federal judge found him guilty of the original drug trafficking charges and extended his original six-year sentence to 36 years and 9 months in prison. On 8 May 2010, Villanueva was extradited to the United States. He was arraigned in a New York court and pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges. On 29 June 2013, Villanueva was sentenced in New York, United States, to 11 years in prison after being accused of conspiring to import hundreds of tons of cocaine and launder millions of dollars in bribe payments. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison but, having been imprisoned since his 2001 arrest, he was expected to only serve three more years in prison. Starting in 2018, Villanueva was held prisoner in

, but on 24 December 2019, President

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican politician who has been serving as the 65th president of Mexico since 1 December 2018. He previously served as Head of Government of Mex ...

spoke about a pardon by the end of the year. Villanueva may be placed under house arrest until the pardon comes through. On 10 June 2020, Villanueva was released from prison into house arrest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villanueva, Mario Governors of Quintana Roo Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) People convicted of money laundering Politicians from Quintana Roo People from Chetumal, Quintana Roo Mexican money launderers Living people 1948 births Autonomous University of Chihuahua alumni Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians People extradited from Mexico to the United States Mexican people imprisoned abroad Mexican politicians convicted of crimes 20th-century Mexican politicians