MEXICO CITY, March 25 (Reuters) - The besieged governor of the Caribbean
state of Quintana Roo said on Thursday he was sure he would be cleared of
accusations he had links to drug traffickers after having faced 12 hours of
questioning by Mexico's special narcotics prosecutor.

Gov. Mario Villanueva of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
told a news conference he was interrogated for over 12 hours on Wednesday.
He said he had been asked whether he had ties to drug traffickers, had let
them ship drugs through his state or had accepted gifts from them.

"I'll come away clear from this affair and all its insinuations and
accusations because they are baseless," Villanueva said in the news
conference at the governor's palace in Chetumal, the capital of a state
best known for its beach resort of Cancun. Details of the conference were
provided by his office and local media.

Villanueva leaves office on April 5 after a six-year term and will be
succeeded by another PRI governor. Officials have said the state has become
a major conduit for Colombian cocaine making its way to the United States.