The information that follows was obtained from a front-page article in Spanish from the daily El Universal (30 Nov. 1996), and adds to that provided in the 18 December 1996 FBIS Latin America Daily Report transcript of an XEW Television Network report included with your information request.

Dante Delgado Rannauro is a former governor of Veracruz, former Organization Secretary of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), former ambassador to Italy and former president of the Veracruz PRI. His last position under the current administration was that of "agrarian attorney" (procurador agrario). He left the PRI on 27 November 1996 and announced that he would form a new opposition political organization. He claimed to be "politically persecuted" (perseguido político) because he was being summoned by auditing authorities of the Comptrollers Secretariat (Secretaría de la Contraloría) for not having declared his holding of stock in some businesses. Dante Delgado claimed that the government offered him the post of ambassador to Brasil if he abandoned his plans to form a new political organization, and that he had become the victim of an intimidatory campaign (campaña intimidatoria) when he rejected the offer.

The subsecretary of the interior (subsecretario de Gobernación) stated that there is no such campaign, and that the claims made against the former governor of Veracruz responded to an investigation of the Comptroller's office. The auditing authorities in turn declared that the administrative process involving Dante Delgado had no intimidation purpose, but were the fulfilment of juridical obligations that allow him "the broadest freedom to defend himself" (la más amplia libertad de defensa). The speaker of the Secretariat stated that the name of current and former officials under investigation cannot be disclosed, but did not confirm or deny that some investigations being carried out involved businesses of the Delgado Rannauro family.

Dante Delgado stated that the businesses in question belonged to his brothers, and that he had rejected an offer to hold stock from some of them, although in some stock certificates all brothers' names appear.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Reference

El Universal [Mexico City]. 30 November 1996. "Dante Delgado: soy perseguido por mi postura." [Internet] http://aguila.el-universal.com.mx/net1/1996/nov96/30nov96/ primera/01-pr-h.html [Accessed 4 December 1997]

Additional Sources Consulted

Amnesty International Report. Yearly.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Latin America Daily Report. 1987-96.

Human Rights Watch World Report. Yearly.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. Monthly.

Latin American Weekly Report [London].

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. Weekly. 1989-96.

Mexico NewsPak [Austin, Tex.]. Fortnightly.

Material from the Indexed Media Review (IMR) or country files containing articles and reports from diverse sources (primarily dailies and periodicals) from the Weekly Media Review.

Newspapers and periodicals pertaining to the appropriate region.

Electronic sources: IRB Databases, Global NewsBank, NEXIS, Internet, World News Connection (WNC), REFWORLD (UNHCR Database).

Note:

This list is not exhaustive. Country-specific books available in the Resource Centre are not included.