BROWNSVILLE — Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, the former governor of Tamaulipas charged with drug trafficking and laundering millions of dollars in dirty money, said Monday that he can’t afford an attorney.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan appointed Yarrington an attorney and ordered him held without bail. Yarrington, who was extradited from Italy to Texas on Friday, made his initial appearance Monday here.

Morgan read the federal charges, which include drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering, then scheduled Yarrington’s arraignment for Thursday.

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Yarrington, 61, was governor of Tamaulipas, a Mexican state that borders Texas, from 1999 to 2005 and had been a fugitive for several years. The U.S. Homeland Security Department and Interpol tracked him to the Italian town of Paola, where he had been living under a false name. He was eventually arrested in Florence.

If convicted, Yarrington faces up to life in prison and tens of millions of dollars in fines. He also faces the possible forfeiture of an airplane, more than 46 acres of property in Bexar County and $132 million in cash.

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