After months under a court-ordered suspension, one border community’s highest elected official has now stepped down from office as a civil lawsuit alleging misconduct continues in the courts.

In a nearly 16-minute Facebook video on Monday, August 17, Maverick County Judge Ramsey English Cantu announced his resignation. The Maverick County Commissioners’ Court unanimously accepted it on Friday, August 21, though they lambasted the political controversies behind his departure.

Cantu, a Democrat, had been suspended since May as part of a petition to remove him from office over allegations of “official misconduct” and “incompetency,” according to KSAT. The court also restricted what Cantu could say on social media, pointing to videos he had posted on Facebook.

“As a result of orders issued by the district court, there are matters involving county government that I am restricted from discussing publicly. That reality has weighed heavily on this decision,” Cantu said. “If I cannot fully speak… then I have to ask myself whether I can continue serving you in the way that I believe that you deserve… I have concluded that I cannot.”

The petition to remove Cantu was filed in April by former Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas and Roberto De Leon, the deputy chief of the Maverick County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Eagle Pass News Leader. They accused Cantu of financial mismanagement and unrealistic budget cuts, including cuts to two district courts.

In his farewell, Cantu criticized the judges from those courts, as well as an auditor they appointed, Gloria Barrientos, whom he largely blamed for his departure. County auditors oversee public spending. During his time as Eagle Pass mayor, Cantu had fired Barrientos as city manager, which left lingering bad blood.

“In my view, that history contributed to the working relationship… that never developed into the professional partnership that Maverick County needed,” Cantu said.

On Friday, county leaders also spoke of that fraught relationship.

“It’s so sad that the auditor has caused all this, and that you all have followed her lead and … believed every single lie that she has said (sic),” Precinct 1 Commissioner Yolanda Ramon said.

Moments later, officials appointed Pablo Garcia Jr. to serve out the remaining 120 days of Cantu’s term. Garcia previously served as Cantu’s chief of staff.

At a Monday, August 24 hearing, the judge declined to dismiss the removal petition despite Cantu’s resignation. The judge has yet to decide whether Cantu is guilty of contempt for the social media commentaries he made after the May 4 suspension.

For his part, Cantu is not ruling out another political run, saying he was leaving on his own terms, not under a cloud of corruption like some Maverick County officials before him. He also criticized the attorney representing his accusers, Alfonso “Poncho” Nevarez Jr., a former state lawmaker who did not seek re-election in 2020 after facing drug charges.

“I’m not leaving my office indicted, nor as a convicted felon, as others have,” Cantu said, referring to former county commissioners convicted of bribery.

“Nor did I drop an envelope of cocaine as a state official at an airport,” he said, referring to Nevarez.