Politicians were welcomed in Texas

All three of the former Tamaulipas governors under investigation in Mexico have previously been welcomed — even honored — in the state of Texas.

In his State-of-the-State address in 2005, Gov. Rick Perry specifically welcomed the attendance of Eugenio Hernandez Flores, then governor of Tamaulipas.

Perry called him and other guests “distinguished friends and neighbors.”

The state of Tamaulipas borders deep South Texas, and one of its largest cities, Matamoros, sits across the Rio Grande from Brownsville.

In April 1999, the Texas Senate passed a resolution honoring then Tamaulipas Gov. Tomas Yarrington Ruvalcaba, referring to him as a young man of energy, vision, skill and integrity – “the kind of leader Texas is proud to have as a neighbor and a partner.”

That same year, the Texas House welcomed a delegation of governors from Mexico, including Yarrington Ruvalcaba, who was governor-elect at the time, and Manuel Cavazos Lerma, who was the sitting governor.

Today, Cavazos Lerma, who served as governor from 1993 through 1999; Yarrington Ruvalcaba, who served from 1999 through 2004; and Hernandez Flores, who served from 2005 through 2010, are under investigation by the Mexican Attorney General’s Office. The subject of the investigation has not been disclosed.

Brownsville’s former Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. said he knows the three men well.

“I was with them ‘mano a mano’ in their work with their communities and the state of Tamaulipas,” Ahumada said Tuesday.

Ahumada served as Brownsville mayor from 1990 through 1993 and from 2007 through the spring of 2011, but he continued to be involved in city affairs between his two terms.

“I had the honor and privilege to work with all of them, and I knew them personally and considered them friends,” Ahumada said.

“It could be politics,” he said of the current investigation. “I urge everybody to take it with a grain of salt and allow the process that they, like everybody, are entitled to.”

“I respect them and I didn’t see anything (bad). I can’t say anything bad. They worked hard in their service to their country. They were very cooperative and very accessible. I have nothing but good things to say about them,” Ahumada said.

Current Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez, who succeeded Ahumada, said he does not personally know the three former governors.

“It’s unfortunate that this sort of situation does arise, but I think that we are all seeing, globally with the Internet and social networks, that people just can’t do a lot of things that they possibly could do before, and I’m very happy about that,” Martinez said.

“I don’t know any of them, but I like what is happening globally,” he added.