MEXICO CITY (AP) — A day after Citigroup announced it would sell a 25% stake in Banamex to billionaire Fernando Chico Pardo, the Mexican businessman said his $2.3 billion investment should be read as a sign of confidence in Mexico’s government and economic potential.
The sale, which is expected to be completed next year after Mexican regulators sign off, comes after Citigroup announced in January 2022 that it was moving away from retail banking in Latin America.
Mexico’s then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at the time “we would like this bank to be Mexicanized,” contending that foreign bankers often take profits abroad rather than re-invest them in Mexico.
Chico Pardo said Thursday that he only got fully into negotiations with the U.S. financial behemoth six months ago.
“I believe that the foreign investment which is so necessary for our country must complement domestic investment,” he said.
Citigroup originally acquired Banamex, one of Mexico’s largest banks, in 2001. Under Citigroup, Banamex had grown to Mexico’s fourth-largest banking company, with 1,300 branches and 13 million customers.
Chico Pardo is currently chairman of the board of ASUR, which operates nine airports in southeast Mexico, the main airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and six airports in Colombia.
He is also president and CEO of Promecap, a private equity firm. He previously founded and ran a brokerage firm.
The plan is eventually to go public with the remainder of Banamex, but Chico Pardo would remain as the principal shareholder.
Citi's International Director Ernesto Torres Cantu, left, businessman and owner of 25% of Banamex Fernando Chico Pardo, center, and Director of Grupo Financiero Banamex Manuel Romo join hands during a press conference in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Businessman Fernando Chico Pardo, owner of 25% of Banamex, gives a press conference in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City Council employee detained in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is an asylum-seeker from Venezuela, according to a court petition seeking his release.
Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez was arrested Monday at a scheduled immigration check-in, enraging city leaders and drawing protesters Tuesday to the Manhattan federal building where he is being held.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Rubio Bohorquez had long overstayed a tourist visa, had once been arrested for assault and “had no legal right to be in the United States.”
City Council Speaker Julie Menin disputed that, telling reporters that Rubio Bohorquez, a data analyst for the city legislative body, was legally authorized to work in the U.S. until October.
Menin, a Democrat, said the council employee signed a document as part of his employment confirming that he had never been arrested and cleared the standard background check conducted for all applicants.
The court petition, reviewed Tuesday by The Associated Press, said Rubio Bohorquez — identified in the document as R.A.R.B. — had always been seeking asylum and was arrested at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services asylum office in Bethpage, on Long Island.
Menin called it a regular check-in that “quickly went awry.”
The document, known as a petition for writ of habeas corpus, said Rubio Bohorquez has no criminal record — no arrests, charges or convictions. A hearing on the petition is scheduled for Friday.
ICE confirmed Rubio Bohorquez’s name. Menin said she wanted to protect his identity and referred to him only as a council employee.
“We are doing everything we can to secure his immediate release,” Menin told reporters Monday. She decried the arrest as “egregious government overreach.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat, said he was “outraged” by what he called “an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul referenced Rubio Bohorquez’s arrest in her state of the state speech on Tuesday, asking: “Is this person really one of the baddest of the bad? Is this person really a threat?”
“I will do whatever it takes to protect New Yorkers from criminals, but people of all political beliefs are saying the same thing about what we’ve seen lately: Enough is enough,” said Hochul, a Democrat.
Menin said officials were attempting to reach Rubio Bohorquez’s family and obtain contact information for his immigration lawyer.
The nonprofit New York Legal Assistance Group filed the habeas petition on Rubio Bohorquez’s behalf. The organization’s president and CEO, Lisa Rivera, said it represents dozens of people who have been wrongfully detained by ICE and hundreds who are following immigration procedures in hopes of staying in the U.S.
“This staffer, who chose to work for the city and contribute his expertise to the community, did everything right by appearing at a scheduled interview, and yet ICE unlawfully detained him,” Rivera said in a statement.
According to ICE, Rubio Bohorquez entered the U.S. in 2017 on a B2 tourist visa and was required to leave the country by Oct. 22, 2017. He has been employed by the City Council for about a year, Menin said. His position pays about $129,315 per year, according to city payroll data.
“He had no work authorization,” ICE said in a statement confirming Rubio Bohorquez’s arrest. The agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said that under Secretary Kristi Noem “criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States. If you come to our country illegally and break our law, we will find you and we will arrest you.”
Several dozen people protested Tuesday outside the Greater New York Federal Building, where Rubio Bohorquez was being held. Some carried signs that said “Abolish ICE” and “No Human Is Illegal.”'
Venezuela, whose former President Nicolás Maduro was seized Jan. 3 by U.S. forces, has been roiled for years by violence and economic instability. Nearly 8 million people have fled the South American nation since 2014, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
Last year, President Donald Trump's administration ended Temporary Protected Status that had been allowing hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan refugees to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation. It wasn't clear from court papers whether Rubio Bohorquez had been a part of that program.
Disputes over an immigrant’s work authorization have arisen before, in part because many employers rely on E-Verify. The system compares information provided by employees with records available to the government but doesn’t automatically notify an employer if an employee’s right to work is later revoked.
Matthew Malloy, Executive Board Member with the Association of Legislative Employees, speaks during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Alexa Avilés, New York City Council member, speaks during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Chi Ossé, New York City Council member, speaks during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Carlos Calzadilla, President of Brooklyn Young Democrats, speaks during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
People raise signs during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
