Mexico Ex-Gov. Freed From Prison

MEXICO CITY -- The former governor of western Jalisco state is free
after spending more than three years in prison on charges he
laundered money and protected drug dealers.

Flavio Romero de Velasco, 75, was cleared of all charges and freed to
waiting family members outside maximum-security Almoloya prison near
Mexico City late Saturday.

Romero was arrested in January 1998, on federal charges he helped the
leader of a drug-smuggling organization use laundered drug profits to
buy a building.

Three months later, a judge citing a lack of evidence threw out the
money laundering charges. Romero remained imprisoned, however, after
prosecutors filed hastily drafted criminal association charges
against him.

After the ruling, Romero was eligible for bail, but his family could
not afford the $168,000 to buy his freedom because federal agents had
seized his house and surrounding farmland, Romero told reporters
Saturday.

Prosecutors spent the next two-plus years investigating more money
laundering accusations against Romero before dismissing all charges.

Romero said he will file a defamation of character suit against
Mariano Herran Salvatti, the prosecutor who directed the state's case
against him.

"I had nothing to hide and I was locked away anyway," Romero told
Mexico City's Reforma newspaper.

Romero said he may mount another campaign for Jalisco's governorship.

Romero headed Jalisco's government from 1977 to 1983. In the late
1960s, he was chief of the customs office in Ciudad Juarez on the
U.S.-Mexican border.

Another former Mexican Governor, Mario Villanueva, remains in prison
on Mexican and U.S. charges that he laundered drug money and smuggled
200 tons of cocaine into the United States. Villanueva was governor
of coastal Quintana Roo state from 1993 until 1999.