'Dead' Man Elected Mayor of Mexican Town
A man reportedly dead since 2010 was elected mayor of a small Mexican town on Sunday. However, the man is alive and well, though he will likely never serve as an elected official due to an outstanding warrant for arrest.
Lenin Carballido allegedly died in 2010 and was declared legally dead from a diabetic coma. Relatives use the death certificate to convince police to drop an arrest warrant for his participation in a 2004 gang rape. Carballido ran for, and won, election in Sunday's election.
Authorities took a closer look at Carballido's past and discovered that his death certificate was legal, but had false information on it.
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"When he registered as a candidate, he presented all his paperwork, his birth certificate, a letter stating he had no criminal record," Rey Morales, state leader of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), told the New York Times. "He fooled the prosecutors' office; he fooled the office of records; he fooled electoral officials."
Carballido was reportedly involved in a gang rape along with four other men. The arrest warrant was never served because the family produced a "valid" death certificate. Police are now planning to make an arrest once the necessary paperwork is filed; the statute of limitations from the 2004 case is not up, and police are hoping to get justice for the victim.
"The state attorney general's office will investigate and bring charges, even if the suspect is recognized by electoral authorities as a municipal authority," the Oaxaca state prosecutors' office said in an official statement.
"The prosecutors' office is taking all the legal steps necessary to revive the case and serve the arrest warrant that is still pending," Mayra Ricardez, spokeswoman for the state prosecutors' office told the Times.
The official responsible for the fake death certificate has been fired and may face charges of bribery or corruption. Officials have said it is very unlikely that Carballido will serve any time as an elected official, given that his campaign was a fraud.
