July 23, 1999
The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - Authorities issued an arrest warrant for pop star Gloria Trevi, and police staked out an airport in the northern city of Chihuahua on Tuesday to prevent her from fleeing.
The search for the pioneering female singer marked the latest chapter of mysterious disappearances and sightings of Ms. Trevi, who some former associates accuse of luring underage girls into sexual relationships with her former manager, Sergio Andrade.
In a telephone interview, Ms. Trevi's lawyer, Francisco Gastelum, said he was holed up with the pop singer and Andrade in a private home in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, about 75 miles south of the Texas border, and said Ms. Trevi would flee immediately to Brazil to escape prosecution.
Meanwhile, state police searched hotels and staked out the airport in the capital of Chihuahua state to prevent Ms. Trevi from fleeing, the government news agency Notimex reported.
Ms. Trevi and Andrade decided to flee to Brazil because it has no extradition treaty with Mexico, Gastelum said. He said they planned to leave as early as Tuesday night, but refused to say where in Brazil they were headed.
A state government spokeswoman in Chihuahua confirmed Tuesday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Ms. Trevi, but said she had no other information, either about what the arrest warrant was for or whether a warrant also had been issued for Andrade.
Mexican authorities have sought the two for months for questioning about allegations that they lured underage girls into sex.
Media reports last month had Ms. Trevi and Andrade hiding out in a country club community in the Rio Grande Valley town of Mission.
Ms. Trevi dropped out of sight months ago, and Andrade hasn't been seen publicly in years.
The first allegations against the two surfaced in 1998, when Andrade's former wife filed a criminal complaint accusing him of luring her into sex before they married when she was 15. She portrayed Ms. Trevi as an accomplice to a man who established a cult-like domination over his stable of young entertainers.
Earlier this year, the parents of a 17-year-old in Andrade's care, Karina Yapor, lodged similar charges in Chihuahua City.
Ms. Trevi rose to fame in the late 1980s and became best-known for the brash way she sang of youthful frustration - ``to the devil with school! To the devil with the teacher!'' - and of sexual liberation.
Her concerts were reviewed by The New York Times. Religious groups called for boycotts. She attracted the attention of some of Mexico's most respected intellectuals. Writer Elena Poniatowska called the wild-haired singer ``a living work of art.''
With two films and a string of pop hits, Ms. Trevi seemed unstoppable until 1996, when her career faltered. She dropped from sight for a time, saying she needed to care for Andrade, who supposedly had taken ill. A television series flopped.
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