US court acquits César Duarte Jáquez

A court in El Paso, Texas, exonerated former Chihuahua Governor César Horacio Duarte Jáquez in the civil lawsuit filed by his successor, Javier Corral Jurado, and the Chihuahua government, in which he was accused of acquiring 50 properties in the United States valued at approximately $25 million through the misappropriation of public funds.

Judge Rubén Morales ruled that insufficient evidence was presented to support the accusation. According to local press, in his ruling, the judge granted the Motion for Proceedings and No Evidence for Summary Trial in favor of Duarte and his son, César Adrián Duarte, determining that the evidence presented did not support the plaintiff's allegations.

During a press conference, the former official celebrated the decision and accused the lawsuit of being part of a campaign of political persecution by Corral. "It confirms what we've always said: this was political persecution disguised as justice. And it will have legal consequences in Mexico and the United States," he stated.

In addition, it was reported that Javier Corral will be required to cover damages and attorney's fees arising from the legal proceedings.

Accuses omission

For his part, Javier Corral denied that the complaint was a personal act and asserted that it was the Chihuahua State Government, during his administration, that filed the lawsuit.

Through social media, he blamed the current governor, María Eugenia Campos Galván, and officials in her cabinet for failing to respond to the requests from the contracted law firm, which would have prevented him from providing the necessary evidence to the U.S. court.

“The fact that the American authorities dismissed the complaint regarding the 50 properties is not because they do not exist, but because the state government, currently headed by María Eugenia Campos, never responded to the requests for evidence,” Corral wrote on his X social media account.

The former president also clarified that the services of the Buzbee law firm did not cost public funds, as their fees would only be covered if the illicitly acquired assets were recovered.

"That the greatest thief in the history of Chihuahua continues to play the victim, justifying his enormous wealth and pretending to be an honorable man who brought progress to the state, is not the result of his innocence, his freedom, and the recovery of his ill-gotten gains. It is the product of complicity with Governor María Eugenia Campos and the protective network she built, distributing the resources of all among a few," he explained.