Mexico ex-governor's son faces questions over cartel meet

The son of a former Mexican governor said he will obey an order to testify before prosecutors after a video surfaced of him meeting over beers with a drug baron, AFP reports.

Rodrigo Vallejo, whose father Fausto Vallejo stepped down as governor of the troubled western state of Michoacan for health reasons in June, said he had been forced to meet with Knights Templar cartel boss Servando "La Tuta" Gomez.

"I will present myself to testify in a timely fashion before the authorities," he wrote on his Facebook page, which was posted on Twitter by his father.

"The criminals forced me to attend (the meeting with Gomez) against my will," Vallejo said, adding that he was not getting the benefit of the doubt because he is the ex-governor's son.

In the 18-minute video posted online by Quadratin news agency of Michoacan, Vallejo is seen and heard speaking with Gomez, smiling at times and with a beer in hand as they sit around an outdoor table.

At the end of the video, Vallejo tells Gomez: "I don't know how you see this: I want to create a group for the company." But Gomez's response is inaudible.

The Knights Templar are known to also call their cartel "The Company."

Fausto Vallejo, a member of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), said in a statement that he believes his son is innocent but that if he attended the meeting of his own will, "he should be punished according to the law."

Fausto Vallejo's former number two, Jesus Reyna, who served as interim governor for six months last year, is being held pending trial for alleged ties to organized crime after he was seen in a separate video with Gomez.