Guillermo Padrés Elías (born 29 June 1969 in

Arizpe Arizpe (or Arispe) is a small town and the municipal seat of the Arizpe Municipality in the north of the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located at 30°20'"N 110°09'"W. The area of the municipality is 2,806.78 sq.km. The population in 2005 was ...

, Mexico but raised in

Cananea Cananea is a city in the Mexican state of Sonora, Northwestern Mexico. It is the seat of the Municipality of Cananea, in the vicinity of the U.S−Mexico border. The population of the city was 31,560 as recorded by the 2010 census. The p ...

, Mexico) is a Mexican politician and a member of the '' Partido Acción Nacional'' ("National Action Party", PAN). He served as

Governor of Sonora List of governors of the Mexican state of Sonora since 1911: *2021–present Alfonso Durazo *2015–2021 Claudia Pavlovich Arellano *2009–2015 Guillermo Padrés Elías *2003–2009 Eduardo Bours Castelo *1997–2003 ...

from 2009 to 2015.

Political career

Padres' political career began in 1997 when he was elected to the

Congress of Sonora The Honorable Congress of the State of Sonora ( es, Honorable Congreso del Estado de Sonora) is the legislative branch of the government of the State of Sonora. The Congress is the governmental deliberative body of Sonora, which is equal to, and ...

as State Representative for the 7th electoral district with 61% of the vote. In 2000, he was elected Representative for the 2nd Federal District in the LVIII Legislature with 50.35% of the votes, and served until 2003. In 2006, he was elected to the Senate representing Sonora. His party received 44% of the vote. As Senator, he served as Chairman of the Agriculture and Livestock Committee, and served on the Justice Committee and Water Resources Committee. On 16 January 2008, he announced his intention to run for Governor Sonora in the 2009 elections. On 1 March 2009, he won the first day of PAN elections in Sonora, with 2,625 votes against 1,709 for María Dolores del Rio and 477 for Florencio Diaz Armenta. The following day, María Dolores del Rio and Florencio Diaz Armenta withdrew, leaving Padrés as the sole candidate.

Governor of Sonora

In the gubernatorial election of 5 July 2009, Padrés Elías defeated the candidate 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 ...

'' ("Institutional Revolutionary Party", PRI), Alfonso Elías Serrano, with 464,865 votes for Padrés Elías against 425,050 votes for Elías Serrano; however, the PRI challenged the election results. On 17 August, the State Electoral Tribunal rejected the challenge, and certified the election of Padrés Elías. The PRI appealed to the

Federal Electoral Tribunal The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary ( es, Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación, or ) is a venue within the judiciary of Mexico that specialises in electoral matters. Among its functions are resolving disputes aris ...

, which on 11 September also rejected the challenge. Padrés Elías served as Governor of Sonora from 2009 to 2015.

Arrest and criminal charges

He was wanted by the Federal Police and Interpol on multiple charges of corruption, embezzlement, and extortion. In total, Padres transferred US$8.9 million from Mexico to US bank accounts. After a long man-hunt, Padrés gave himself up to the Federal authorities on 10 November 2016, claiming innocence. He was released on 2 February 2019, to continue the process.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padres Elias, Guillermo Governors of Sonora 1969 births National Action Party (Mexico) politicians Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) Politicians from Sonora Living people Mexican politicians convicted of crimes Members of the Congress of Sonora Fugitives wanted by Mexico 21st-century Mexican politicians People from Arizpe People from Cananea