MEXICO CITY — After a six-month manhunt spanning at least three continents, the former governor of Veracruz state in Mexico was captured in Guatemala and will face extradition to Mexico, where he is wanted on suspicion of diverting millions of dollars to phantom companies, Mexican authorities said.

Javier Duarte, who served as governor of Veracruz from 2010 until last October, was found late Saturday night holed up in a hotel with his wife in the resort town of Panajachel, on Lake Atitlán in the highlands of Guatemala, officials said. He has denied the charges against him, which include graft and organized crime.

During his run from the law, Mr. Duarte, once considered a luminary of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, became a quintessential symbol of malfeasance and a huge embarrassment to the party, which has been criticized for its inability to rein in rampant corruption.

But Mr. Duarte’s capture could provide some political capital to President Enrique Peña Nieto, whose approval ratings have plummeted over the past two years and whose party is preparing for a close, fierce fight to hold onto the presidency in elections next year. His party, known by its Spanish initials, P.R.I., is also locked in a tight race for the governorship of the State of Mexico, a historical stronghold for the party, where corruption has become a central campaign theme.