The leak of a second audio recording involving Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda is part of an FBI strategy related to investigations opened in the United States against a dozen Morena governors over their alleged links to drug trafficking.
Politics
A source from a United States intelligence unit confirmed to Los Ángeles Press that the operation is coordinated from Mexico City and that journalist Héctor de Mauleón receives the material through the United States Embassy in the country’s capital.
The information obtained by this outlet indicates that Mauleón serves as the journalistic channel chosen to gradually disclose conversations related to the investigations carried out by U.S. authorities.
Police services
The audio was recorded five months ago, during the same period as the first conversation released by Mauleón. In the new fragment, edited at the discretion of its sender, Marina del Pilar speaks with people linked to the agencies handling her case and expresses fear of entering the United States again.
“No, I don’t want to cross the United States after the last time,” the governor can be heard saying.
When the possibility of going to the U.S. consulate is mentioned, Ávila Olmeda suggests that the meeting take place somewhere else:
“No, going to the consulate. If it can be somewhere else… when they tell me, at some hotel, I don’t know,” she responds.
The governor also expresses her willingness to provide information and cooperate with the authorities involved in the investigation:
“I am always willing to talk about everything I may know, how to help, how to cooperate,” she says.
Her words indicate that this was not a first approach. Ávila Olmeda refers to previous meetings:
“Every time I sit down with them, something happens to me, I mean, I leave there and something has already happened,” she says.
“I have not seen any progress, any attention.”
The reference to “every time I sit down” indicates that the governor had participated in several meetings. She also expresses dissatisfaction with the lack of “progress,” revealing that she expected a different response after speaking with U.S. government intermediaries.
The recording released by Mauleón continues an investigation that Los Ángeles Press made public since June 6, 2025.
This outlet reported that U.S. intelligence agencies were investigating the links between Mexican political figures and organizations involved in money laundering and drug trafficking. One of the lines followed by the DEA and FBI included Marina del Pilar, her husband Carlos Torres, and their relationship with businessman Fernando Rafael Salgado Chávez.
Subsequently, Los Ángeles Press documented a network of companies, front men, and luxury properties that linked Salgado to the governor of Baja California’s political and business circles. The investigation identified real estate operations in San Diego and Miami through companies allegedly used to hide the final beneficiaries.
Before the audio leaks, Marina del Pilar had already agreed to become a cooperating witness for U.S. authorities.
The accusations regarding her alleged links to drug trafficking mention three names: René Arzate García, alias “La Rana”; Jesús Alexander Sánchez Félix, known as “El Ruso,” leader of the criminal structure controlling part of Mexicali; and Emmanuel Everardo Serrano, “El Botas,” identified as a drug distributor and with whom the governor was photographed in an apparently familiar embrace during a campaign event in 2019.
Her administration denied any relationship with “El Botas” and attributed the image to the spontaneous photographs commonly taken with supporters. A source consulted by Los Ángeles Press also claims that “La Rana” was allegedly detained during an operation carried out in Popotla, Rosarito, and replaced hours later by another person at the Baja California Prosecutor’s Office facilities.
According to the source, in order to carry out the operation and allow the release, 20 million dollars would have been distributed among those involved, with part allegedly intended for the governor and another part for the commander responsible for the deployment. This allegation has not been confirmed through judicial documents or by Mexican authorities.
What has been confirmed so far is that Mexican Navy personnel and U.S. agents carried out the operation, transported a detained person by helicopter, and did not officially reveal the person’s identity after the detention of Arzate had previously been reported.
The source consulted by Los Ángeles Press also confirmed that the FBI designed a communication strategy in Mexico City to release controlled information related to investigations involving governors and Morena officials.
The alleged involvement of the U.S. Embassy explains Mauleón’s access to reserved conversations related to an ongoing investigation by intelligence agencies. It also places the leaks as part of an institutional operation rather than material obtained accidentally by the columnist.
The audios released by Mauleón provide Marina del Pilar’s voice to confirm what this outlet had repeatedly reported.
The consecutive publication of the two audios allows the FBI to expose Marina del Pilar’s situation without, so far, being required to issue a public statement regarding the governor’s case file.
Source: losangelespress
