By Juan Montoya
Remember the boondoggle of public funds perpetrated by the shadow government called United Brownsville?
Their scheme included strong-arming at least eight public entities to fork over $25,000 in public funds annually to pay for United Brownsville's economic development pie-in-the-sky.
One of those was the so-called Bi-national Economic Development, or Bi-NED, that was championed by former IBC president Fred Rusteberg (the guy in the very back on the left with the bald head, dark tie and blue shirt). The architect of the Bi-Ned was none other than Ambiotech's Carlos Marin, the architect of the $1 million Imagine Browsnville "plan" that morphed into United Brownsville under the coordinating board made up of Rusteberg, UTB-TSC president Julieta Garcia, and banker Irv Downing.
United Brownsville went south after the eight entities decided that after seven years of chipping in and paying United Brownsville more than $1.4 million to "have a seat at the table" and pay its director Mike Gonzales there was little benefit for them. Gonzalez later flew the coop and high-tailed it back to Kyle, Texas, where he was once mayor. In fact, in all that time, Gonzalez never even registered to vote here, much less buy a home.
The number of jobs created for the people of Brownsville over the United Brownsville seven-year gravy train? Just Gonzales' and his secretary Debbie Portillo, who was later pushed to run for city commissioner by Mayor Tony Martinez, as far as we can tell. But Bi-Ned is still being pushed with a supporting cast from McAllen, Laredo, and all points in between. Among those invited to the Bi-Ned table are elected officials from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
Basically, this hodge-podge group of self-appointed saviors of the border want to hitch their wagon to the maquiladora industry in northern Mexico and somehow interest them in buying components that would be made in the Valley. The hook? That such a plan would bring economic prosperity via advanced manufacturing to the Valley and shorten certain supply chains for the maquilas.
(That's Marin standing at the rear with Rusteberg just over U.S. Rep.'s Fil Vela left shoulder. Vela is the guy in the second row with the white shirt standing between the bald guy on his right identified as Carlos Garcia, a Mexican federal rep [diputado], and the smiling man on his left with the dark suit identified as the owner of El Piquin Restaurant.)
But it is the guys in the front that have come into some disrepute.
The guy in the far right in the open-collar white shirt and jeans is none other than Luis Alfredo Biasi, the alleged head of a vast extortion and smuggling ring who is also a main suspect in the murder of three U.S. citizens who were kidnapped by a paramilitary group called Grupo Hercules which he formed to combat lawlessness and act as an armed bodyguard for Matamoros Mayor Lety Salazar.
Just this past weekend, Biasi was arrested and charged with extortion and engaging in organized crime in Matamoros. He was whisked away to Cuidad Victoria where a judge will decide whether to jail him there or send him to a high-security Mexican prison. He was free on bond for tax evasion before his arrest.
That's former Mayor Lety Salazar in the front row on the right between the bald man in the dark suit and red tie and the guy with a gray shirt and white collar. Two places to her right is Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez in the yellow tie. Tony's peccadilloes and transgressions are too many to list here.
The man in the dark suit is none other than former Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas. After his second term ended, he ran for county office and was defeated. The rumor mill generated in Laredo indicates that Salinas – a retired FBI agent and security consultant – was caught in a compromising position with another man in a Laredo parking lot. Was there any truth to that vile rumor? We'll leave that to our readers to decide.
The event pictured here took place in Sergio Arguelles' Rancho Viejo, which in itself is noteworthy. Mexican documents with the Mexican federal PGR have identified Arguelles as a close associate of former Tamaulipas Gov. (and also a former Matamoros mayor) Tomas Yarrington. Arguello was named the "Maquiladora King" after he established the large maquiladora park in Matamoros (FINSA) that has numerous Fortune 500 companies among its tenants.
Yarrington has just been extradited from Italy to face numerous charges of corruption, drug dealing, money laundering, and fraudulent dealings with banks all across South Texas. He is being held without bond in federal custody. It is said that Arguelles – as Yarrington's close associate (prestanombre) – used his money to procure a controlling interest in the Rancho Viejo Golf Resort.
With the principals in the Bi-NED from Mexico and South Texas generating such negative publicity and United Brownsville shunned to the trash heap, is the cross-border scheme a thing of the past?