Former Guanajuato governor moves to exclusive luxury suburb in Texas

MEXICO CITY.- Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo , lawyer and until a few months ago governor of Guanajuato , is one of the new members recently arrived to the luxurious suburb of Woodlands , an oasis of millionaires located north of Houston, Texas, in the United States.

After completing his term in office in one of the Mexican states with the most violence in the country, as reported by federal authorities, Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo can now enjoy a home valued at one million dollars, or 20 million pesos.

According to an investigation by PopLab , the home is not in her name, as it was purchased by the firm DAI LLC , registered in the state of Colorado on March 9, 2020.

PopLab also revealed that the house was built in 2017 and has five bedrooms and four bathrooms in a built-up area of ​​357 square meters on a 1,122 square meter lot.

It features a pool, a media room, a game room, and a three-car garage. Similar homes in the area rent for around $4,200 per month .

The property located at 34 Winter Thicket Place is free of liens, except for the mortgage loan with Vantage Bank Texas, in the amount of $899,250, or 17.9 million pesos .

According to PopLab's visits, three vehicles were found in the garage: a 2005 Jeep Wrangler with Guanajuato license plates ; a 2024 Jeep TJ registered in the name of Ana Luisa Ramírez Lozano —the former governor's sister-in-law—and registered in Guanajuato; and a 2024 Jeep Gladiator with Texas license plates.

These last two with a value of more than one million pesos each.

Woodlands, the place where many wealthy Mexican citizens choose to live, has seen the passing of various Mexican political figures who, like the former governor of Guanajuato, own or have owned real estate in this exclusive social area.

Javier Duarte was a distinguished member of Woodlands Woodlands has had a whole runway of former governors of Mexico who decide to have properties in this place, because, in addition to Diego Sinhue , back in 2016, Javier Duarte , who at that time was about to conclude his term in Veracruz, acquired a membership for this distinguished suburb in the United States to move with his wife, Karime Macías Tubilla.

This was the accusation made by Miguel Ángel Yunes, who claimed that his predecessor had purchased properties abroad through front men, and that one of the houses, he claimed, was acquired by the then-outgoing governor at 83 Birch Canoe Drive, in the luxurious The Woodlands Creekside Park subdivision, on the West Side.

According to real estate site Har.com , the mansion features a gabled roof, five bedrooms, four full bathrooms, and one half bathroom, with 8,485 square feet of land.

Now, the former federal president is in prison serving a nine-year sentence for crimes of operations with illicit proceeds and criminal association , after being arrested in Guatemala, extradited to Mexico and accused of corruption .

Carlos Lomelí Bolaños is another name that is heard as one of the public officials with real estate in Woodlands.

The former Morena candidate for the government of Jalisco (2018) and former delegate of Federal Programs of the AMLO government in Jalisco (2018-2019) acquired a property in the opulent destination in Texas .

According to Emeequis, the mansion in Houston's exclusive Lake Woodlands area is located at Cape Harbour 11 in the development.

It's a 9,000-square-foot building. It has six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a pool, a spa, three garages, an elevator connecting all three floors, two game rooms, and an outdoor fireplace. Lomelí listed his Houston mansion on his 2018 3 of 3 declaration.

According to Iván Arjona, a seasoned real estate agent in Woodlands, one of the main reasons for moving to this area is the insecurity in Mexico. The quality of life offered by the exclusive residential area attracts the Mexican elite, but it's also a way for them to spend money and show off the luxuries they can't afford in Mexico.