TUCSON, Arizona (AP) — The family of Arizona’s only Hispanic governor is suing the University of Arizona for breach of contract in an attempt to sell their home in Nogales.
Raul Hector Castro’s family donated this home to the university several years ago for the specific use of the Arizona Daily Star. reportA complaint filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court challenges the university’s decision to sell the home rather than use it as the planned headquarters for the Border Studies Initiative.
The lawsuit says the home has more than monetary value for the Castro family.
“Specifically, the Castro family has enjoyed the home for 20 years and wanted the Castro family to dedicate themselves to supporting the communities of Arizona and Santa Cruz County after Raul’s death,” the lawsuit states. increase.
Castro served as Arizona’s first and only Mexican-American governor for more than two years in the 1970s before resigning to serve as Ambassador to Argentina. He also served as Ambassador to Bolivia and El Salvador.
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In 2003, he and his wife, Patricia Castro, bought and moved to Nogales, near the US-Mexico border.
Castro died in 2015After his death, according to the complaint, the university approached the Castro family about making the two-story house the headquarters for the new border research initiative.
If the university sells the house, the lawsuit states that the family would “suffer irreparable harm that cannot be recovered through compensatory damages.”
The university and board declined to comment specifically on the pending lawsuit.
The university announced in February that it had not been able to raise enough money to restore the historic building and transform it into a publicly accessible university-run border center.
University spokeswoman Pam Scott said she estimated the project would cost $600,000 when the school first took ownership of the property in 2016. When we messed it up, that estimate ballooned to $1.2 million on the low end, up to $2.6 million if both floors of the home were converted.
For the funds already raised (about $275,000), the university said each donor could choose to have it refunded or added to Castro’s designated scholarship fund.
Net proceeds from the sale of the home will go to a scholarship fund to benefit Latin American Studies Center students studying international relations and local politics.
The Castro family is seeking an injunction to stop the university from selling the home and ultimately cancel the 2016 contract.
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