30 May 2012 in the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, several banners appeared throughout the city blaming Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, the former mayor of Reynosa and current candidate for the Senate of Mexico, for being one of Yarrington's associates. The banner linked Cabeza de Vaca with other people who are investigated by the U.S. authorities for money laundering, including Manuel Bribiesca and Antonio Peña Argüelles. The banners also stated that Yarrington helped Cabeza de Vaca become mayor of Reynosa. In addition, Cabeza de Vaca is believed to have favored Cano Martinez's construction companies during his time as mayor; Peña Argüelles declared in front of the U.S. authorities that he had a close connection with the mayor. The National Action Party (PAN), however, claimed that the banners were put up by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) because Cabeza de Vaca (the PAN candidate for the Senate) is leading the elections and above Manuel Cavazos Lerma, a member of the PRI who is also running for a seat in the Senate too. Suspension from the PRI Following the accusations he is facing for allegedly accepting bribes from the Gulf Cartel during his time as governor, Yarrington was suspended from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) on 23 May 2012. He will remain suspended from the party until all the accusations against him are cleared up. The PRI distanced itself from Yarrington and said that it will not defend a former governor accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from drug trafficking organizations. Below is the statement issued by the PRI, translated from Spanish: Los Angeles Times states that these drug trafficking charges may "summon the ghosts" of the PRI's corrupt and dark past. It may remind the Mexican voters of the grafts that marked the party's rule before it was tossed from the presidency in the year 2000 after seven decades of near-absolute regime control. The PRI's rule – which lasted for 71 years – was seen as "tainted by corruption," and critics have accused the PRI of making deals with the cartels to maintain peace in the country. Mexico's vast criminal underworld and illegal drug trafficking industry took hold during the reign of the PRI, often with the help of corrupt officials. SIEDO investigations According to the investigations of the SIEDO, Yarrington received more than $8.5 million from the Gulf Cartel and the Juárez Cartel in eleven separate payments