He apparently killed himself with a paper knife in his car by cutting his own throat after attempting to slit his wrists. In his suicide letter, Ramos, who was responsible for organising the much criticised tender that brought Cavallo to Mexico, claimed that he had acted honourably, did not know of Cavallo's past, and that Renave's opponents were motivated by criminal malice. Ramos said that they were against Renave because they did not want their lucrative trade in stolen and smuggled cars interrupted. Around 2m of Mexico's 14m vehicles are believed to have been smuggled in from the US. One of Ramos's colleagues had been assassinated only the week before his suicide.
President Zedillo's administration first tried to set up Renave in 1998. His government decided that the country needed a new, efficient and privately run agency to replace the Registro Federal de Automóviles. They invited tenders and received, it is believed, 90 statements of interest. It is murky how the three companies chosen to set up Renave were selected. They hired Cavallo, billed as a successful Argentine businessman, as chief executive.
There were allegations that organised crime was interested in the contract because it could see the possibilities for using the agency to launder money: people could pay US$10 to register cars they did not have and create an explanation for ill-gotten gains.
The national registry was intended to cut down on car crime. However, several state governments, including the economically most important ones of the Distrito Federal, the Estado de México and Jalisco, refused to cooperate with the initiative.
Renave was taken over by the government after Cavallo was arrested. The government admitted that its background checks into Cavallo did not go further than checking the references Cavallo had provided from El Salvador and Argentina. The trade and industry minister, Herminio Blanco, said that both the Argentine and El Salvadorean governments had vouched for Cavallo.
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