Mexican ambassador resigns after ‘shoplifting spree’

Mexico’s ambassador to Argentina has resigned for health reasons, after he appeared to be caught on camera stealing a $10 book, and was also accused of pilfering a shirt from an airport shop.

Ricardo Valero, 77, was first recalled by Mexico’s foreign ministry earlier this month, after he was allegedly caught on camera taking a book from the shelf of a Buenos Aires bookstore, hiding it inside a newspaper, and walking out of the shop.

The book is believed to be a biography of Giacomo Casanova, the 18th-Century author, spy and playboy, and retailed for around $10.

The government accepted Valero’s resignation on Sunday after he was accused of another petty theft, this time of a shirt from a duty-free shop in Buenos Aires’ airport two weeks ago. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard wished the diplomat a “speedy recovery.” Local media said that Valero’s survived a brain tumor about 6 years ago and that his condition has been monitored ever since. 

One would think that diplomats’ and politicians’ salaries would make shoplifting pointless, but a surprising number of them get caught with their hands in the cookie jar. In the US, Republican Congressional hopeful Danielle Stella was arrested twice this year and accused of stealing $2,300 worth of goods from a Target store, and $40 worth of groceries from another outlet. As a kicker, Stela had pushed a tough-on-crime platform, complaining that her Minneapolis district was the “crime capital of the country.”

Back in 2011, California State Representative Mary Hayashi was caught lifting $2,445-worth of items from a luxury San Francisco department store. In Australia the same year, Senator Mary Jo Fisher was charged with shoplifting and assaulting a security guard in an Adelaide supermarket. Both women claimed mental illness led to the incidents. 

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