Guillermo Mercado Romero

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mercado and the second or maternal family name is Romero.

Guillermo Mercado Romero
Governor of Baja California Sur
In office April 5, 1993 – April 4, 1999
Preceded by	Víctor Manuel Liceaga Ruibal
Succeeded by	Leonel Cota Montaño
Personal details
Born	(1938-03-01) 1 March 1938 (age 86) La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico[1]
Political party	PRI
Spouse	María Concepción Casas
Alma mater	University of Guadalajara[1]
Occupation	politician

Guillermo Mercado Romero (born 1 March 1938) is a Mexican politician who served as the Governor of Baja California Sur from 1993 to 1999. He is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).^[2] He also served in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.^[1]

Corruption charges

Mercado left office in 1999. In early 2001, Mercado and eighteen other former Mexican government officials were charged with diverting approximately $55 million in public funding.^[2] Mercado was indicted for two charges: Mercado's gubernatorial administration was accused of purchasing airline tickets for official government travel through a travel agency owned by his wife and daughter.^[2] Second, Mercado was also charged with improperly transferring ownership of public land to a private research institute during his tenure as governor.^[2]

Mercado's wife, Maria Concepcion Casas de Mercado, owned a condo in San Diego, California, which she sold in January 2001 for $330,000.^[2] She then purchased a new home in El Cajon, California, in February 2001, just one month later, for $188,000.^[2] In June 2001, U.S. immigration agents questioned Mercado at his home in El Cajon to determine his legal status.^[2] Mercado showed the investigators a valid pilot's license and Social Security card as proof that he was in the United States legally.^[2] Mercado also had a visa, which allows Mexicans living near the U.S. border to travel up to 25 miles inside the U.S. for up to three days.^[2]

References

1. Camp, Roderic Ai (2011). Mexican Political Biographies, 1935-2009: Fourth Edition. University of Texas Press. p. 633. ISBN 9780292726345.
2. "Fugitive ex-Mexican governor found". The Record (Stockton). Associated Press. 2001-09-20. Archived from the original on 2019-12-11. Retrieved 2012-03-08.