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Behind Bars.

By Pruitt, Scarlet
Publication: Business Mexico
Date: Thursday, February 1 2001

Oscar Espinosa Villareal, a former Mexico City mayor who is accused of pilfering some US$45 million in public funds during his term, was sitting in a Nicaraguan jail at press time, awaiting extradition. Espinosa had been on the lam for months, but recently showed up in Managua, Nicaragua, asking

for political asylum. President Vicente Fox's Foreign Relations Secretariat requested that Nicaraguan authorities detain Espinosa, however, so he could face justice in Mexico. Although Espinosa is not the first Mexican official to flee the country under accusations of corruption (remember former Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Villanueva?), he could be the first official to face trial, signifying a new spirit of accountability in Mexican politics.

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