The Bronco and his family under the magnifying glass of justice

Jaime Rodríguez Calderón The Bronco has always been a controversial figure. Since he burst onto the political scene as an independent candidate for governor of Nuevo León, his casual ways led him to win the state and once in power, his sayings and actions continued to keep him a controversial figure.

In 2018 El Bronco sought to reach the Presidency of the Republic by repeating the formula that led him to the government of Nuevo León: as an independent candidate and with proposals built from the controversy, but there was a big difference. He was now a licensed governor, so he took advantage of the situation to help himself find the presidential chair.

In order to win his candidacy, Rodríguez Calderón had to collect at least 866,593 signatures, as required by law, and have the support of at least 1% of voters in 17 states.

But in order to achieve this, and according to the authorities of Nuevo León, he used 572 state government officials, also using money from the public treasury. The case was popularly known as bronchosignatures.

Although the state president did not win the country's presidency, he did win a significant vote. And it reached 5.23% of the votes cast in the 2018 election, above the PRD, Green Party, Citizen Movement, Panal and the Social Encuentro Party (PES).

Rodríguez Calderón returned to conclude his government in Nuevo León amid new controversies that led him to low popularity, so on June 6, the candidate of the Citizen Movement (MC) party, Samuel García, who had already been a local deputy and senator of the Republic, won the state government.

Just as a local legislator, Samuel Garcia filed a complaint against the illegal collection of signatures by Bronco officials, so once in government, the young state president carried out one of his campaign promises: to punish corrupt former officials. And he went against his predecessor, but also the former interim governor, Manuel González, by accusing them of “diverting human resources” from Nuevo León for electoral purposes.

On March 15, elements of the Prosecutor's Office Specialized in Electoral Crimes of the State of Nuevo León arrested Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, in compliance with an arrest warrant issued by a control and oral trial judge of the entity.

The former governor was arrested on the outskirts of a ranch in the municipality of General Terán and taken to Apodaca Prison 2, where he is to date, after a judge determined that he warranted pretrial detention.

Next Tuesday, April 12, at 9:00 a.m. local time, El Bronco will appear before a federal judge in a first hearing, which will determine whether or not to attract a complaint for the use of illicit remedies.

But state authorities are not only in the footsteps of El Bronco, but also of his family.

Although there is still no formal accusation against him, the wife of former state president, Adalina Davalos Martinez, has sought the protection of justice to avoid being arrested, especially after the authorities conducted several searches of her husband's property.

Although he had already managed to get a judge to grant him indefinite protection, on April 4 a court denied him legal recourse.

Maria Teresa Martínez Galván, Rodriguez Calderón's mother-in-law, had worked for 24 years in the government of Nuevo Leon, but with her son-in-law as governor, her aspirations became higher.

In September 2017, he applied for leave to his position to seek the mayor's office of Santa Catarina in the July 2018 elections. Since she did not win, she returned to public service at the Ministry of Public Security (SSP) as coordinator.

The salary for this position was 28,789 pesos, but El Bronco's mother-in-law received an income of 70,236 pesos per month, which is 144% more than she received in 2017 with the same position.

This allowed him to be granted a pension of 28,622 pesos, according to news reports and civil organizations, who filed a complaint against Martínez Galván.

Because of this maneuver, the current state government is targeting Maria Teresa, who, like her daughter, has sought the protection of justice by requesting amparos to protect her from an arrest or presentation order, but this Wednesday, April 6, a district court in criminal matters denied definitive protection.

The current government of Nuevo León also has other officials of the El Bronco administration under the spotlight.

One of them is the former Secretary of Government and acting president, Manuel González. Although there is no known research kit against him, Governor Samuel García has warned that he will go against Manuel González - who has also sought protection but has been denied - and against the heads of Health (Manuel dela O Cavazos), Education (María de los Angeles Errisúriz) and Sustainable Development (Manuel Vital) ); who allegedly carried out business under cover of power.

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