Jailed Mexican union boss had Coronado connection
From The San Diego Union Tribune
By Sandra Dibble
CORONADO - "A $4.7-million house in a quiet cul-de-sac in Coronado Cays appeared empty Wednesday afternoon, its occupant far away in a Mexico City
prison, facing embezzlement charges.
The arrest of Elba Esther Gordillo, leader of Mexico's powerful teachers union, brought unprecedented focus this week to the labor boss' lavish
lifestyle - and to her San Diego connections.
Mexico's attorney general has accused Gordillo of illegally funneling $160 million from the National Union of Education Workers into U.S. and European
bank accounts and using part of that money to purchase two Coronado properties, pay for treatments at California hospitals, and pay off her Neiman
Marcus credit card.
A longtime labor leader in Mexico whose influence reached into the country's highest echelons of power, Gordillo drew little attention during her
stays in Coronado Cays, where property records link her to a house that includes six bedrooms, a swimming pool, and a boat slip with a 30-foot
Bayliner Yacht registered to Francisco J. Yañez and valued at more than $82,000.
Like other wealthy Mexicans with homes in Coronado, Gordillo kept a low profile. "They're just like normal people, I see them, once in a while they go
for a boat ride," said Ken Allen, who maintain's her neighbor's yacht and said that for years he has observed the occupants of Gordillo's residence.
"I think she liked to get away from the hustle and bustle of Mexico City," said one Coronado resident, who did not want his name used to protect his
own privacy. "I ran into her every now and then, she was always polite, normal and unassuming," he said. But "when she took a call on her portable,
she switched from unassuming to very much in command."
One Coronado Cays resident said he would occasionally see Gordillo at the spa at Loews Coronado Bay. "She sometimes would be walking the treadmill
with a helper who would be holding a phone, or a towel or water," said the man, who also asked that his name be withheld. "There would be a driver
outside."
he Mexican newspaper, Reforma, reported that Gordillo was arrested Tuesday at Toluca airport outside Mexico City after flying in from San Diego. Hours
later, the front door of the Coronado Cays house was wide open, and the lights were turned on but nobody was answering the doorbell. Alerted by a U-T
reporter, Coronado police stopped by the residence, and secured the property after finding no one inside.
Gordillo's name is nowhere on the county property record for the residence, which identifies the owner as Comercializadora TTS, S.A. de C.V., a
Mexican corporation. Mexico's attorney general, Jesús Murillo Karam, said in a Mexico City news conference on Tuesday that the company is linked to
Gordillo's late mother, Zoila Estela Morales Ochoa. The company also owns the house under construction across the street.
Both Morales and Comercializadora are named in a lien filed against Gordillo's residence by the Coronado Cays Homeowners Association in December,
saying that it was owed $1,162.
Gordillo was involved in a traffic accident in Chula Vista in December 2006, after running a stop sign on Proctor Valley Road and striking another
vehicle, according to court records. According to a police report of the incident, Gordillo told officers that she had lived in Coronado Cays for 25
years, but admitted she did not have a California driver's license, telling the officer "she had not bothered," to get one."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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