Among the Thugs

Cesar Luis Menotti was in Mexico Last week, at the request of Emilio Maurer, to help promote Puebla F.C. to the Mexican first division. Maurer, once a prominent figure in the FMF, was a key factor in hiring Menotti as the Mexican National team head coach in the early nineties. Since then Maurer fell from grace as some of his dealing within the Mexican Football Federation were deemed unethical.

Helping Maurer in his quest to return to the Mexican top flight is Guillermo Lara, Maurer’s right hand man, who in the past has been linked to Colombian narcotics dealer/ football promoter Jorge Mario Ríos "El Negro" Laverde, who admitted to being in business with ‘Promotora Internacional Fut Soccer’ which belongs to Lara.

Maurer showed enough faith in Menotti that he hired him for two games, against Queretaro whom Puebla faced in a home/away series for promotion, and even flew his squad to Buenos Aires to train under the Argentines supervision. However, things did not go as planned and Puebla lost their home game 2-1 and was later humiliated 3-0 in the second leg which lifted the Gallos Blancos, as Queretaro is known, to the Mexican first division.

Interesting to note is the fact that Queretaro football Club almost disappeared two years ago when the PGR, Mexico’s Attorney Generals Office, investigated one of the clubs main benefactors Geovanni Morantes de Avila, aka "Paul Solórzano", who is believed to have used the club to launder narcotics money. Morante’s dealing with Queretaro also involved Guillermo Lara and Jorge Mario Ríos "El Negro" Laverde.