Mexican football legend linked to ‘drug lord’ in US sanctions
THE captain of Mexico’s national football team was yesterday among 22 people sanctioned by the US treasury for alleged ties to drug trafficking.
Rafael Marquez Alvarez, the 38-yearold footballing hero of his country, was singled out for his ties to Raul Flores Hernandez, a suspected drug trafficker who was indicted in California and Washington DC in March.
Marquez – the only player in the history of the sport to captain a team at four different World Cups – scored the vital goal in Mexico’s 2-1 victory last November against the United States, leading to calls that he lead Mexico for a record fifth time in next year’s World Cup in Russia.
He made his debut for Mexico more than 20 years ago, aged 17, before going on to play for Monaco and Barcelona – winning the Champions League in 2006, the first Mexican to do so.
“Rafa” is a household name in Mexico. He is hailed as one of his country’s finest footballers, and revered for his film star looks – some say Mexico’s equivalent of David Beckham.
Previously married to Adriana Lavat, a Mexican actress, the couple separated in 2007. In 2011 he married Jaydy Michel, a model and ex-wife of Alejandro Sanz, a Spanish singer. Since 2015, he has played for Atlas, a team in Guadalajara, where he began his career.
But yesterday, the US froze all his American assets. They also forbade US citizens from doing business with him.
Washington announced he was on a list of Flores’s family and business associates, in addition to a series of companies the US said was used to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking – among them a football club, casino, medical clinic, bars and a music label.
Besides Marquez, the US authorities said they had identified Julion Alvarez, a popular Mexican singer, as being a “frontman” for Flores’s illicit funds.
Alvarez, known as “El Rey de la Taquilla” or the king of the box office for his ability to pack out Mexican stadiums, was photographed rafting on Monday through Sumidero Canyon, one of the most popular tourist sites in the state of Chiapas, with Enrique Pena Nieto, the president of Mexico.
Mr Pena Nieto published the photo of the pair of them on the water alongside Manuel Velasco, the governor of Chiapas, on all his social media accounts. He has since deleted the images.
According to the US treasury, “both men have long-standing relationships with Flores Hernandez, and have acted as front persons for him and his drug trafficking organisation and held assets on their behalf”.
Flores does not run his own cartel, but rather “maintains strategic alliances with the leadership of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación”, according to the treasury statement.
It is the single largest such designation of a drug trafficking organisation ever by its Office of Foreign Assets Control, the statement said.