After a whirlwind tour of nine states in three days, President Claudia Sheinbaum was back at the National Palace in Mexico City on Monday morning for her regular press conference.
Among the issues she spoke about at her mañanera were the illicit fuel trade-related arrests that were announced over the weekend and the security situation in the violence-plagued state of Sinaloa.
Sheinbaum stresses commitment to ‘zero impunity’ after fuel smuggling arrests
Sheinbaum acknowledged that 14 people, including a vice admiral in the Mexican Navy, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the smuggling and illicit trade of fuel.
At a press conference on Sunday, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch traced the arrests back to the seizure of a petroleum tanker in the Gulf Coast port of Tampico in March.
The tanker was carrying 10 million liters of diesel, on which a special import tax was due, but the cargo was declared to customs as a petrochemical exempt from the tax.
Sheinbaum noted that businesspeople were among those arrested, and asserted that they made “very high profits” by selling diesel to gas stations and “other fuel providers” on which they didn’t pay the relevant import tax.
“The importation of fuel is allowed as long as [the importers] have an Energy Ministry permit and pay their taxes,” she said.
“… That’s where this investigation comes from and that’s why the arrests were made,” Sheinbaum said.
“What is very important is the commitment to zero impunity,” she said.
Members of Mexico’s Navy among 14 arrested in major fuel smuggling crackdown
Sheinbaum noted that the investigation is ongoing and pledged that there will be “zero impunity,” no matter where it leads.
“These arrests made by the Federal Attorney General’s Office with the support of the Ministry of the Navy itself and the Security Ministry … show that,” she said.
“Where there is [criminal] involvement of an official, zero impunity. We said zero impunity for corruption and this is proof of that,” Sheinbaum said.
The vice admiral who was arrested is Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna, nephew of former navy minister Rafael Ojeda Durán. The suspect’s brother, Fernando Farías Laguna, is also accused of involvement in the illicit fuel scheme, but he is a fugitive from justice.
Asked whether the “slowness” in the investigation was related in any way to the alleged involvement of Ojeda’s nephews, Sheinbaum said it was not, highlighting that, according to Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, the former navy minister (2018-24) filed a complaint related to fuel smuggling that contributed to the investigation that led to the recent arrests.
Sheinbaum pledges to “keep working” to combat insecurity in Sinaloa
A reporter noted that thousands of people marched in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on Sunday to demand peace in the state, where a war between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel has claimed more than 1,800 lives in the last 12 months.
“When will peace come to Sinaloa?” the reporter asked the president.
“There is a reduction [in violence],” responded Sheinbaum.
“Tomorrow, the security cabinet will go to Culiacán. There is a good result in August. Of course, more [good results] are needed,” she said, referring to homicide numbers.
Asked what her message was to those who marched in the Sinaloa capital on Sunday, Sheinbaum said:
“We’re going to keep working, we’re going to keep working and we are working.”
Sheinbaum noted that members of the National Guard, the army and the navy are deployed to Sinaloa and highlighted that there have been “a lot” of arrests in the state.
“We’re going to bring peace to Sinaloa,” she said, noting that it was “the arrest of a criminal” — Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada — “that caused the conflict within this criminal group.”
Sheinbaum: Weekend tour of 9 states was ‘very good’
Sheinbaum said that her tour of nine states over the past three days was “very good.”
The president visited Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Durango, Sonora, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Veracruz to present government reports pertaining to each of those entities.
She noted that some of the states she went to aren’t governed by Morena or the ruling party’s allies, the Green Party and the Labor Party. Guanajuato and Aguascalientes are governed by the National Action Party (PAN), while Durango and Coahuila have Institutional Revolutionary Party governors (PRI).
Even in the “PRIAN” states, “we did very well,” said Sheinbaum, using a hybrid acronym that is commonly used to disparage the PRI and the PAN.
The president noted that large crowds came out to listen to her speak at events in the nine states.
“There were around 130,000 people, counting all the events,” she said.
“What we do is give a general report. Then, we say how many people receive [benefits from] the welfare programs,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that she also spoke about “how many homes we’re going to build in each entity and the [infrastructure] projects that have already begun or which we’re going to begin next year.”
Sheinbaum, who was accompanied at the events by the respective state governors, said that she and her government have good relationships with opposition governors, “particularly with those of the PRI.”
The PRI governor of Durango, Esteban Villegas, even went as far as saying that he is a “Claudista” — i.e., a supporter of Claudia Sheinbaum.
The president thanked Villegas for his words, and said there is “collaboration” and “coordination” between her administration and state governments.
“There is recognition of the work of the government of Mexico,” she added.
Sheinbaum, who delivered her first annual government report to the nation in a speech last Monday, also reiterated her commitment to visit all 32 federal entities in what she has dubbed an “accountability tour” as she approaches the first anniversary of her presidency.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
