‘Dead’ candidate Carballido elected in south Mexico village
13 July 2013 11:24 PM GMT
Prosecutors are investigating how a man certified as dead got elected mayor of a village in southern Mexico. Authorities say relatives of Lenin Carballido used a death certificate showing that he died of a diabetic coma in 2010 to convince police to drop an arrest warrant against him for allegedly participating in a 2004 gang-rape.
A living Carballido later ran in, and narrowly won, Sunday’s election in San Agustin Amatengo in Oaxaca state. In his campaign, he posted photos of himself all around the village of 1,400 residents, with slogans like ‘Now is the Time’ and ‘United for Development’. But shortly after his victory, the death certificate surfaced with his full name of Leninguer Carballido.
Officials in Oaxaca said on Thursday that the certificate had been drawn up and signed by a public registry official, but that the information had been faked. Carballido’s party, the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, known as the PRD, said it had been fooled by the candidate.
‘When he registered as a candidate, he presented all his paperwork, his birth certificate, a letter stating he had no criminal record,’ said Rey Morales, the state leader of the PRD.
‘He fooled the prosecutors’ office, he fooled the office of records; he fooled electoral officials. If all this is true, he cannot take office as mayor,’ said Morales. Carballido didn’t answer his cellphone on Thursday. a
A living Carballido later ran in, and narrowly won, Sunday’s election in San Agustin Amatengo in Oaxaca state. In his campaign, he posted photos of himself all around the village of 1,400 residents, with slogans like ‘Now is the Time’ and ‘United for Development’. But shortly after his victory, the death certificate surfaced with his full name of Leninguer Carballido.
Officials in Oaxaca said on Thursday that the certificate had been drawn up and signed by a public registry official, but that the information had been faked. Carballido’s party, the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, known as the PRD, said it had been fooled by the candidate.
‘When he registered as a candidate, he presented all his paperwork, his birth certificate, a letter stating he had no criminal record,’ said Rey Morales, the state leader of the PRD.
‘He fooled the prosecutors’ office, he fooled the office of records; he fooled electoral officials. If all this is true, he cannot take office as mayor,’ said Morales. Carballido didn’t answer his cellphone on Thursday. a
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