Former Quintana Roo Governor Roberto Borge Released From Prison to House Arrest

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — Former Quintana Roo Governor Roberto Borge Angulo has been released from a federal psychiatric prison in Morelos and placed under house arrest in the State of Mexico, where he will be monitored with an electronic ankle bracelet.

Borge, who governed the state from 2011 to 2016, left the Centro Federal de Rehabilitación Psicosocial (CEFEREPSI) in Ayala early Saturday after a hearing in which the monitoring device was formally installed. Following administrative procedures, he was transferred under guard to a private residence in the State of Mexico to begin his court-ordered home confinement.

The change in his detention status came after a federal judge acquitted Borge on organized crime charges, one of two priority investigations the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (FGR) had pending against him. The judge ruled that prosecutors failed to fully prove his criminal liability in that case. Notably, the organized crime charge was not among the offenses listed in Panama’s 2018 extradition order that brought Borge back to Mexico.

Despite his release from prison, Borge has not been fully exonerated. He remains under formal prosecution for money laundering, the second investigation against him. That case is linked to the alleged illegal sale of state reserve land at prices far below market value through front men during his administration.

Because money laundering does not carry mandatory pretrial detention under current Mexican law, the judge ruled that Borge may face the remaining stages of the legal process under house arrest, with his location tracked by satellite via the electronic bracelet.