Mexico City, Mexico — President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that the United States Department of Justice will return 4.8 billion pesos that Héctor Javier Villarreal Hernández, former Coahuila Finance Secretary, diverted during the government of Humberto Moreira.
The Attorney General of the Republic was notified after the recovery of assets from Villarreal, who was arrested in Texas for money laundering and conspiracy to transport illicit money, the President explained at his Wednesday morning press conference.
AMLO recommended that the head of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic, Alejandro Gertz Manero, allocate the money to the prevention campaign against drug use.
“My proposal to prosecutor Gertz Manero is that a part of this resource be used to prevent drug use, that it be used for the campaign we have (…) basically aimed at young people and families, but it remains to be seen if the U.S. are going to deliver it all at once or in parts,” he said.
López Obrador did not say when the U.S. might return the funds to Mexico.
