A federal judge ordered the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) to unblock the bank accounts of former Tamaulipas Governor Tomás Yarrington, after determining that the measure applied since 2019 was unconstitutional. The ruling was issued on March 31, 2026, by the Fourth District Court in Administrative Matters in Mexico City, presided over by Judge Ulises Oswaldo Rivera González, who granted an amparo to the former governor. According to the judicial resolution, the UIF failed to demonstrate that the freezing of the accounts was based on a request from a foreign authority or international organization, an essential requirement under the prevailing jurisprudence when applying the measure. The judge concluded that the blockage responded to 'strictly national' reasons, which violated the principle of legal certainty and led to the granting of the amparo to allow access to the secured economic resources. Despite this favorable ruling, Yarrington's legal situation does not change in the criminal sphere. The former governor remains confined in the maximum-security prison of El Altiplano, in the State of Mexico, where he faces various processes. These include accusations of organized crime, alleged ties to the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, as well as a process for operations with resources of illicit origin initiated in 2025. Additionally, in January 2026, a federal tribunal ordered the procedure against him for drug trafficking to be reheard, which implies a new hearing to evaluate the evidence. It should be recalled that Yarrington was deported to Mexico in April 2025, after serving a sentence in the United States for money laundering, after pleading guilty to receiving millions of dollars in bribes. Although he has recently obtained favorable rulings in the judicial sphere, these respond to technical failures in the processes and do not mean his acquittal, so he will continue to face Mexican justice.
