Raúl Salinas de Gortari (b. August or September, 1946), brother of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas, is best known for being convicted of masterminding the killing of José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, his political enemy and former brother-in-law. His alleged money laundering of millions of dollars, involvement in the drug trade, and playboy lifestyle make him one of Mexico's most villianized personages. His legendary corruption made him influential in the shift toward democracy, as Mexicans looked for political reform that would eliminate the potential for similar abuses of power. Note: as an adjective (stressed on the second syllable instead of the first), august means honorable. ... September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with the length of 30 days. ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... This is a list of presidents of Mexico. ... Term of Office: 1 December 1988 – 1 December 1994 Preceded by: Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado Succeeded by: Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León Date of birth: 3 April 1948 Place of birth: Mexico City Profession: Economist First Lady: Cecilia Ocelli Party: PRI Carlos Salinas de Gortari (born 3 April 1948... José Francisco Ruiz Massieu (1946 – 1994) was a Mexican political figure. ...

Early life

As a child, Raúl was close to his younger brother Carlos, and the two did much together. They shared many experiences, including the execution-style killing of a twelve-year-old household maid with a .22 caliber rifle on December 17, 1951, when they were five and three years old, respectively. The killing was ruled an accident, and no one was charged. The two continued their strong relationship as they approached college, where Raúl studied engineering. When Carlos graduated from the UNAM, he dedicated his thesis not to his parents, but to Raúl. The . ... December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Engineering is the application of science to the needs of humanity. ... The National Autonomous University of Mexico (Spanish: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; abbreviation: UNAM) was founded in 1551, and is now the largest university in Latin America and it is considered the best University of this region based on the Beijing University and the London Times suplemments. ...

Ruiz Massieu case

Ruiz Massieu was a politican of emerging importance – he served as the general secretary of the ruling party during the term of Carlos Salinas, and was scheduled to become the Congress majority leader under the new administration. He was shot by a semi-literate farm worker named Daniel Aguilar on September 28, 1994 at 9:35am in the middle of Mexico City, and died in a hospital an hour later. Aguilar was quickly captured and his confession led to the capture of a number of co-conspirators. The killing sent all of Mexico into an uproar, as many began questioning who was behind the action and other recent shocks, such as the Zapatista rebellion and the killing of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio. September 28 is the 271st day of the year (272nd in leap years). ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Mexico City (Spanish: Ciudad de México) is the federal capital of, and largest city in, Mexico. ... Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta (10 February 1948 – 23 March 1994) was a Mexican politician who was murdered during a stop on his presidential campaign. ...

To lead the investigation, President Salinas immediately selected Mario Ruiz Massieu, the brother of the victim and a justice official, to be the head prosecutor on the case. His investigation uncovered a massive conspiracy, by all appearances originating from the country's ruling political party. But when a key source in the investigation mysteriously disappeared, Mario Ruiz Massieu publicly accused the PRI of blocking his investigation on November 15, 1994. Following the statement, confidence in the party and in the government as a whole plummeted, both nationally and internationally, and $1.5 billion of foreign investment left the country on the following day. Mario Ruiz Massieu resigned officially on November 23, 1994. November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...

But soon after, Mario Ruiz Massieu fled Mexico, and U.S. authorities found that he had deposited $7 million in a Texas bank. Suspicions that he was covering up the perpatrators of his brother's death rose as case's new chief prosecutor, Pablo Chapa Bezanilla, began interviewing family members of the deceased and was led to suspect Salinas. Salinas and José Ruiz Massieu had been bitter enemies, stemming back to Ruiz Massieu's divorce of Salinas's sister Adriana in 1978. Eventually, Chapa Bezanilla discovered that all mentions of Raúl Salinas had been eliminated from the testimonies of the captured conspirators. State nickname: Lone Star State Other U.S. States Capital Austin Largest city Houston Governor Rick Perry Official languages None. ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ...

For president Zedillo, this revelation was shocking, because Carlos Salinas had selected Zedillo to be his successor, and because Zedillo considered Carlos Salinas to be a mentor and friend. Facing the choice between preserving his relationship with the former president and protecting the law, Zedillo ordered the arrest of Raúl, arresting him on February 28, 1995. The move was unprecedented in the history of the PRI, in which presidents always protected their predecessors. Carlos Salinas immediately began publically defending himself, claiming that his family was being slandered and accusing Zedillo of damaging Mexico's international image. However, the ensuing investigation continued to point to Raúl Salinas, and questions began arising about whether or not Carlos Salinas would have known about his brother's involvement. February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

As his case dragged on, in November, 1995, Raúl Salinas's wife, Paulina Castañon, was arrested in Geneva, Switzerland after attempting to withdraw money from an account owned by Raúl under an alias. Her capture led to the unveiling of a vast fortune spread around the world and summing to hundreds of millions of dollars, even though he never officially received an annual income of more than $190,000. November is the eleventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with the length of 30 days. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Geneva: the Mont Blanc bridge over the Rhône River and St Peters Cathedral Geneva (French: Genève) is the second-most populous city in Switzerland located where Lake Geneva (French: Lac Léman, but the Genevois are fond of calling it Lac de Genève) empties into the...

On June 14, 2005 Raúl was acquitted of the murder of Ruiz Massieu and liberated with a posted bail of almost 3 million dollars pending accusations of corruption-related crimes. June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ...

References

Oppenheimer, Andres. Bordering on Chaos. New York: Little, Brown, 1996. ISBN 0316650951

External links

• BBC news release (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/197773.stm)