The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) invalidated the arrest warrant issued against the Governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vacawho was pointed out by the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) as being allegedly responsible for the organized crime crimes and operations with resources of illicit origin.
The Chamber determined that the president enjoys constitutional jurisdiction and that the Local Congress acted in accordance with its powers because it was not obliged to approve the decision of the Chamber of Deputies, established as a Jury of Provenance, which agreed to withdraw the immunity of the governor.
The ruling sets a precedent that will be applied in future cases, because it was established that the decisions of the Chamber of Deputies when it becomes the jury of origin for upset a governor they are not binding for local congresses.
For this reason, the ministers declared unfounded controversy related to the removal of immunity of the governor, where it was made clear that the simple pronouncement of the Chamber of Deputies to withdraw the immunity of the state president is not enough; later they declared the dispute against the arrest warrant founded.
On April 30, 2021, The Chamber of Deputies endorsed the governor’s immunity only so that he can be prosecuted for the crime of tax fraud for an amount of 6.5 million pesos. The Investigative Section determined that those suspected of crimes of organized crime and operations with resources of illicit origin were not accredited. However, the local Congress refused to approve the decision.
For its part, the FGR requested and obtained from a federal judge an arrest warrant against Cabeza de Vaca for his probable responsibility in organized crime and money laundering.
The injunction was granted by the control judge attached to the Federal Criminal Justice Center in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico, Iván Aarón Zeferín Hernández. After this situation, the Tamaulipas governor took refuge and obtained the protection of justice, a sentence that prevented his arrest.
The Eighth District Judge in the State of Tamaulipas, Faustino Gutiérrez Pérez, pointed out in his resolution that the governor’s rights were violated because constitutional controversies were ongoing where the issue of his immunity should be resolved.
The judge assured that he chose “to protect the social interest”, because “the seriousness of the acts with the appearance of a crime” that are imputed to the state president, “cannot be above procedural immunity.
He made it clear that his sentence did not imply favoring impunity; He pointed out that the decision of the Tamaulipas Legislature, not to approve the decision of the Chamber of Deputies, protects the head of the local Executive.
In turn, the outgoing state legislature, with a PAN majority, approved the reforms on June 24, 2021 to prevent the new members of Congress, who will be mostly from Morena, from authorizing the removal of immunity from the local president.
For this reason, they modified article 84 of the state constitution and 44 of the Public Servants Lawwhere it is established that “in all those cases in which the State Congress has determined the non-approval of the declaration by any of the federal chambers in matters of its competence, its decision will be final and unassailable.”
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