During his government, César Duarte ’s children and nephews became founding members or participated in at least 12 companies in the real state, construction, livestock, and agriculture industry, as well as in financial services, logging, and drilling water wells.
César Duarte was arrested in Florida a few weeks ago. He is currently awaiting an extradition trial and Mexican authorities hope to seize his property and assets.
Between 2012 and 2015, while Duarte Jáquez governed Chihuahua , the young men were studying or had recently graduated university; however, they were shareholders in companies in both Mexico and the U.S.
For example, César Adrián Duarte Gómez, César Duarte’s son, created the company Inmobiliaria y Pavimentos de Chetumal in 2012, when he was 24 and a year before he graduated as a civil engineer. The company was based in Cancún and in 2013, only a year after it opened, it was part of the contractors roll used by the Quintana Roo government.
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In 2007, 19-year-old César Adrián Duarte Gómez was the president of company Súper Mercado y Carnicería Namiquipa, based in Phoenix, Arizona.
In 2015, Bertha Isabel and Olga Sofía Duarte Gómez, both 24, were the president and treasurer at Ganadera El Saucito Balleza. Their company commercialized livestock, dabbled in logging, drilled water wells. Their father, brother, and mother are also shareholders at the company.
César Adrián, Bertha Isabel, and Olga Sofía opened a company called CAD Construction INC in 2015 in El Paso, Texas. The management positions were exchanged between them from time to time.
On the other hand, Jaime Agustín Fong Ríos, Olga Gomez Fong’s nephew, was still underage when he became a shareholder in one of the family’s companies , which commercialized wood. However, when he turned 26, his career as an entrepreneur took off when he founded Grupo Fritag in 2012, as well as Manzil Construcciones and Buta de México in 2014 when César Duarte was the Chihuahua governor.
Fong Ríos was detained in 2017 when he was accused of embezzlement because his companies were hired as suppliers by the Chihuahua government. Nevertheless, Fong Ríos’ companies overpriced their products and services.
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Antonio Enrique Tarín García, another one of Duarte’s nephews, was also arrested. After he graduated from university, he participated in a scheme to create companies that were later hired as suppliers for Duarte’s government.
Also, Tarín García and Fong Ríos were shareholders at Buta de México; they were both 26-years-old. Before turning 30, Antonio Enrique Tarín had founded several business such as Karuba de Chihuahua and Pasturas y Forrajes Los Potrillos.
Duarte’s nephew was also the head of Acquisitions and Services under Chihuahua’s Finance Ministry and became a lawmaker in 2017 after lawmaker Gerardo Hermosillo Arteaga died. Duarte Jáquez and Hermosillo Arteaga were close friends. When he attempted to get sworn in as a lawmaker, a judge had already issued an arrest warrant against Tarín García. Authorities sentenced him to six years in prison in 2019.
Guillermo Federico Duarte Medina, another of Duarte’s nephews, saw his companies benefit from César Duarte’s position. Guillermo Federico Duarte already owned several companies; however, he founded Promotora Ganadera Los Compadres, Promotora Ganadera Campestre, Inmobiliaria Norte 1 with Jaime Galván Guerrero in 2014. Galván Guerrero is an entrepreneur linked to Duarte’s inner circle.
Duarte Medina is also a shareholder at Akala and Sociedad Financiera Popular; the latter was one of the organizations that merged to create Banco Progreso Chihuahua in 2014.
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