Governor of Tamaulipas wants to play golf but club won’t let him

As Tamaulipas continues to make a name for itself as one of Mexico’s most violent states, the governor wants to play golf.

Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca has gone to the Supreme Court with a case of alleged discrimination against him by a golf club. Yesterday, the court agreed to hear the case.

The story began in December 2013 when García bought a 14.3-million-peso apartment (US $1.1 million at the time) in the Mexico City neighborhood of Bosques de Santa Fe, which also has a golf club.

But the club’s management has denied him access to it, claiming that he did not fulfill certain requirements.

García asserts that the purchase of the apartment made him a shareholder at the golf club, and his wife and daughters members.

The club, however, says that shareholder status is not automatic.

García filed a formal complaint in 2016, charging that he and his family had suffered moral damage and discrimination and demanded compensation. Two courts ruled in the governor’s favor and ordered the golf club to pay compensation for moral damages in US dollars.

But a federal court ruled that the defendant had fully justified and documented its position in not recognizing him as shareholder.

More legal maneuvers followed until yesterday when the case arrived at Mexico’s highest court, where the first chamber agreed to look at it.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)