A presidential donation row in the US has exposed the shady past of a Mexican fugitive who fled US drug charges in 1994, but who has since built a gaming empire south of the border.
US President Barack Obama’s re-election committee announced on Tuesday it would return the donations, revealed by the New York Times, of about US$200,000 by two brothers of Juan Jose Rojas Cardona, or “Pepe.”
Across the border in Monterrey, northern Mexico, Rojas Cardona is nicknamed the “Casino Czar” for his network of gambling houses and he walks free, despite various allegations against him.
“At the moment the authorities don’t have proceedings open against this person [Cardona],” said Jorge Domene, security spokesman for Nuevo Leon State, where Monterrey lies.
The 45-year-old keeps a low profile and rarely appears in public or in his casinos, which stretch across the country, but his name shot into the spotlight last year after an arson attack on a Monterrey casino — blamed on the Zetas drug gang — which left 52 dead, provoking a wave of probes and closures of Mexican casinos.
An investigation by the Nuevo Leon Congress showed that Rojas Cardona owned at least a dozen permits for gaming centers in the state and that they met with controversial federal regulations approved in 2003. Not all kinds of gambling are legal in Mexico, but authorities have loosened the rules in recent years.
Monterrey authorities also carried out inspections of casinos amid complaints of lax security regulations, such as a lack of adequate emergency exits, but the Casino Czar passed all the probes and even opened a new gaming center in an exclusive area of Monterrey.
In September, a US Department of State cable revealed by WikiLeaks — dated July 2009 — showed allegations from the US consul in Monterrey that Rojas Cardona had close ties to the Beltran Leyva drug gang.
The cable also alleged that he illegally made contributions of up to US$5 million to political campaigns of two local politicians from the ruling National Action Party, elected in 2006. The suspected beneficiaries, former mayor Adalberto Madero and former lawmaker Zeferino Salgado, have denied the accusations.
The investigative magazine Proceso, meanwhile, alleged that Rojas Cardona made major donations to three main candidates in the 2006 presidential campaign, including Mexican President Felipe Calderon, citing an anonymous former employee of the casino owner.
Authorities are not investigating the allegations.
Rojas Cardona jumped bail in Iowa in 1994 and fled to Mexico.
He had been sentenced to five years in prison for fraud and he later also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, the Times reported.
His brothers, who live in Chicago, Obama’s home base, had previously made an unsuccessful attempt to arrange for a pardon from the governor of Iowa.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was