Guillermo Padrés Elías

Guillermo Padrés Elías (born June 29, 1969 in Arizpe, Mexico but raised in Cananea, Mexico) is a Mexican politician and a member of the Partido Acción Nacional ("National Action Party", PAN). He served as Governor of Sonora from 2009 to 2015.
Through October 2016, Guillermo Padrés remained a fugitive wanted by the Procuraduría General de la República (Federal Attorney General) and was being actively searched in over 190 countries with the assistance of Interpol on charges of corruption, extortion, and embezzlement. As of November 16, 2016, he is in jail.

Padres' political career began in 1997 when he was elected to the Congress of Sonora as State Representative for the 7th electoral district with 61% of the vote. In 2000, he was elected Representative for the 2nd Federal District in the LVIII Legislature with 50.35% of the votes, and served until 2003.

In 2006, he was elected to the Senate representing Sonora. His party received 44% of the vote. As Senator, he served as Chairman of the Agriculture and Livestock Committee, and served on the Justice Committee and Water Resources Committee.

On January 16, 2008, he announced his intention to run for Governor Sonora in the 2009 elections. On March 1, 2009 he won the first day of PAN elections in Sonora, with 2,625 votes against 1,709 for María Dolores del Rio and 477 for Florencio Diaz Armenta. The following day, María Dolores del Rio and Florencio Diaz Armenta withdrew, leaving Padrés as the sole candidate.

In the gubernatorial election of July 5, 2009, Padrés Elías defeated the candidate of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional ("Institutional Revolutionary Party", PRI), Alfonso Elías Serrano, with 464,865 votes for Padrés Elías against 425,050 votes for Elías Serrano; however, the PRI challenged the election results. On August 17, the State Electoral Tribunal rejected the challenge, and certified the election of Padrés Elías. The PRI appealed to the Federal Electoral Tribunal, which on September 11 also rejected the challenge. Padrés Elías served as Governor of Sonora from 2009 to 2015.

He is currently wanted by the Federal Police and Interpol on multiple charges of corruption, embezzlement, and extortion. In total, Padres transferred $8.9 million USD from Mexico to US bank accounts.