The fuel theft network uncovered following the arrest of 14 people, including sailors and businessmen, sparked another controversy within Morena and the 4T government.
In recent days, various media outlets have published investigations into fuel smuggling involving two high-ranking Navy officials: Vice Admiral Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna and his brother, Rear Admiral Fernando Farías Laguna.
Both individuals—nephews of Rafael Ojeda Durán, former Secretary of the Navy—are alleged to have led the illicit hydrocarbon trafficking business within the institution, according to press reports.
The Farías brothers allegedly operated the network by paying bribes to subordinates and using corrupt schemes to allow the entry of ships carrying fuel from abroad that declared the entry of substances such as oils and lubricants.
According to journalist Claudio Ochoa, one of the brothers, Manuel Roberto Farías, reportedly met with one of the sons of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
It should be noted that Manuel Roberto Farías was arrested on September 2 and charged. His brother, meanwhile, is a fugitive.
Meeting Reportedly About Fuel theft Connections
In the column titled “El Clan and its meeting with the fuel theft sailor” published in El Universal, Ochoa referred to investigations that revealed information about an alleged meeting between Gonzalo “Bobby” López Beltrán, his friend Amílcar Olán—involved in “El Clan,” the influence peddling network of AMLO’s sons—businessman Arnold Rojas, and Manuel Roberto Farías.
The meeting reportedly took place in an apartment in the Polanco area of Mexico City, and was also attended by the property’s owner, who is identified in the column as being close to the Querétaro government and Rabindranath Salazar, former Undersecretary of Religious Affairs at the Ministry of the Interior.
According to Claudio Ochoa, the meeting took place in late 2021, midway through López Obrador’s six-year term, and allegedly served to divide up the fuel theft business.
“According to sources, this meeting, held at the end of 2021, marked the beginning of the ties to make the fuel theft business more successful for everyone,” the column states.
The line being established is Manuel Roberto Farías’ control of the Navy and the role of “Bobby” as honorary supervisor of the Interoceanic Train, one of the flagship projects of the López Obrador administration that promises to connect the southeast with the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico through lines that run from Oaxaca to Veracruz and from Chiapas to Veracruz.
The controversies surrounding “Bobby”
Opacity has dogged the figure of “Bobby” López Beltrán. Latinus reported that the AMLO administration left no documentary evidence of how his son operated on the Interoceanic Railway through the honorary position he held.
Also, according to Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, he allegedly benefited Amílcar Olán for the sale and transportation of ballast for the Mayan Train through contracts.
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In audio recordings obtained by MCCI, Olán himself acknowledged that “Bobby” asked him to produce ballast for the megaproject.
“The instruction he literally gave me was: ‘Let’s see, you have to produce 500,000 cubic meters (…) How are you going to do it? That’s your problem, you have to add more machines, this and that,'” one of the recordings states.
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“Bobby,” along with his brothers “Andy” and José Ramón, have generated controversy due to allegations of corruption, influence peddling, and their opposition to AMLO’s austerity rhetoric.
Source: politico
