Jailed Former Mexican Governor Starts Hunger Strike Over ’Witch Hunt’ Euronews
go to original August 18, 2017

Javier Duarte, the jailed former governor of the Mexican state of Veracruz, has launched a hunger strike to protest how his criminal corruption case is being handled (AFP/Johan Ordonez)

Former Mexican governor Javier Duarte, in jail awaiting trial on graft charges, has embarked on a hunger strike to protest the "witch hunt" against him, according to a letter he wrote that was published by local TV on Thursday.

Javier Duarte, who until last year governed the Gulf coast state of Veracruz for President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is suspected of siphoning off millions of dollars during his tenure.

Duarte, who was extradited last month from Guatemala where he had fled to, has denied any wrongdoing.

"I have taken this decision in order to stop the political persecution and witch hunt being conducted against me and my former colleagues in the state of Veracruz," Duarte wrote in the letter sent to Mexican TV news host Ciro Gomez Leyva and read out on his show.

... Corruption scandals have hounded Pena Nieto's government, playing into the hands of leftist opposition candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is preparing for a third run for office next year.

Read the rest at Euronews

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