Guillermo Mercado Romero (born 1 March 1938) is a Mexican politician who served as the

Governor of Baja California Sur The governor is the chief executive of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. The present governor is Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío of National Regeneration Movement , Morena, who took office on September 10, 2021. Governors of Baja Californi ...

from 1993 to 1999. He is a member of the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...

(PRI). He also served in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

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 A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acce ...

. Mercado was indicted for two charges: Mercado's gubernatorial administration was accused of purchasing

airline ticket An airline ticket is a document or electronic record, issued by an airline or a travel agency, that confirms that an individual is entitled to a seat on a flight on an aircraft. The airline ticket may be one of two types: a ''paper ticket'', whic ...

s for official government travel through a

travel agency A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destina ...

owned by his wife and daughter. Second, Mercado was also charged with improperly transferring ownership of

public land In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land (Commonwealth realms). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries. ...

to a private research institute during his tenure as governor. Mercado's wife, Maria Concepcion Casas de Mercado, owned a

condo A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, which she sold in January 2001 for $330,000. She then purchased a new home in

El Cajon, California El Cajon ( , ; Spanish language, Spanish: El Cajón, lit. 'the box') is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajon, Rancho El Cajón, which was named for the ...

, in February 2001, just one month later, for $188,000. In June 2001, U.S. immigration agents questioned Mercado at his home in El Cajon to determine his legal status. Mercado showed the investigators a valid

pilot's license Pilot licensing or certification refers to permits for operating aircraft. Flight crew licences are issued by the civil aviation authority of each country, which must establish that the holder has met minimum knowledge and experience before issui ...

and

Social Security card Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

as proof that he was in the United States legally. Mercado also had a

visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

, which allows Mexicans living near the U.S. border to travel up to 25 miles inside the U.S. for up to three days.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercado Romero, Guillermo Living people 1938 births Governors of Baja California Sur Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians 20th-century Mexican politicians Politicians from Baja California Sur People from La Paz, Baja California Sur University of Guadalajara alumni Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico)