In an interview with DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS, the leader of the National Action Party (PAN) described the fiscal huachicol as “the largest criminal network, of political complicity and corruption in the history” of Mexico. The expression is used in that country to describe the irregular importation or marketing of fuels through documents, customs classifications or false declarations intended to evade taxes.
“This cannot be possible without the endorsement and authorization of the National Palace,” declared Cabeza de Vaca, who maintained that the operation of the structure would have required the participation of seven agencies of the federal government. He also assured that he personally warned López Obrador after his administration confiscated, in November 2019, several pipes loaded with fuel whose legal entry into the country could not be accredited.
The former president placed Sergio Carmona, a businessman murdered in 2021 and known as the “King of Huachicol”, at the center of the alleged plot. He stated that three phones recovered after his death contain communications and data about leaders, officials and operations allegedly intended to finance more than 15 campaigns for governor, in addition to candidacies for the federal Congress and mayoralties.
Cabeza de Vaca pointed out the Secretary of Education and the governor of Tamaulipas among the politicians allegedly related to the structure. His statements coincide with questions about contracts for some 336 million pesos that companies linked to Carmona received during his own administration. The former governor acknowledged these contracts, but maintains that the works were carried out and denies having maintained a personal relationship with the businessman.
From the United States, Cabeza de Vaca revealed that he has brought information about the alleged plot to federal authorities and that the files continue to be strengthened with new testimonies and evidence. He asserted that US agencies are investigating the destination of the money and its possible political and criminal connections, although he avoided identifying them or revealing details because, as he said, they were ongoing investigations.
—You stated that the fiscal huachicol scheme was politically authorized by the National Palace. Was he pointing directly to Andrés Manuel López Obrador? What did the former president know and what evidence does he have to prove it?
For an operation of this magnitude to be carried out, where we are talking about an evasion of the Special Tax on Production and Services (IEPS) close to 600,000 million pesos, this cannot be possible without the endorsement and authorization of the National Palace. There are seven secretariats involved in this operation, which I not only discovered, but also denounced and exposed. This is the largest criminal network, political complicity and corruption in the history of this country. I am referring to the fiscal huachicol. This was with the consent of the President of the Republic. There are testimonies, evidence and logs of flights related to operations carried out by the then president of Morena to take Sergio Carmona, known as the ‘King of Huachicol’, to the National Palace, present him with the president and put together this entire smuggling scheme. This allowed Morena to finance political campaigns. They also shared a large part of these resources with businessmen linked to them and, especially, with criminal groups and cartels in Mexico.
—What do Sergio Carmona’s three telephone numbers have to do with this plot?
All. Sergio Carmona lost his life in November 2021. Months later, as governor of Tamaulipas, I requested the collaboration of my state’s Prosecutor’s Office with the Nuevo León Prosecutor’s Office to have access to the information on those phones. From there the entire operation comes to light: which politicians they were working with, among them people who are currently senators, and the current governor of Tamaulipas. This entire network of complicities was not only made public, but was reported to the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic.
—Other political personalities have also been mentioned. How far would that network reach?
We are talking about a structure with which more than 15 gubernatorial campaigns were financed. The president of that political party, the current Secretary of Education, was the one who, together with government officials and with the consent of the President of the Republic, put this whole scheme together. With that money they financed campaigns in states such as Michoacán, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Colima, Campeche, Tamaulipas and both Baja California. It was a scheme never seen before. We are talking about very large amounts that allowed them to support candidacies for governorships, but also for the federal Congress and mayoralties.
—You have assured that the evidence is available to the United States. What agencies have that information?
For obvious reasons, I cannot reveal it because investigations are ongoing. What I can say is that United States agencies already have this information and are carrying out the corresponding investigations. That is why there is so much nervousness within Morena and in the Presidency of the Republic itself. There is a lot of concern and concern about these investigations. Today, these politicians feel protected by the cloak of impunity that this authoritarian government in Mexico provides them. However, they also know that investigations and files continue to strengthen in the United States. Every time one of these politicians seeks to be accepted as a protected witness, more information emerges about what we had already reported.
—When did your government begin to detect these operations?
The first pipes were seized during an operation in November 2019. Everything is documented and the corresponding complaints were filed. My government did it. But we didn’t stop there. We continue with investigative work and with something that few state governments do: intelligence work. I was the one who faced the situation, who made it known to the president and who discovered this whole operation. That made a lot of people uncomfortable. We are talking about November 2019, when Andrés Manuel López Obrador was at the peak of power. Months after presenting the complaints, I had the opportunity, God put me there, to participate in a morning conference in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, alongside the president. Faced with a question from a media outlet related to them, which was probably intended to make me uncomfortable, I took the opportunity to tell the president that I did not agree with his public policies on issues such as health or clean energy. I also gave him a document with state arrest warrants for common law crimes against drug trafficking lords and members of criminal groups that today are designated by the United States as narco-terrorists.
—Did he talk to you on that occasion about fuel smuggling?
Yes. Coincidentally, in the same facilities where that conference was held we had placed the confiscated pipes. I told him: “Mr. President, this was precisely where I put the pipes that we confiscated. This is going to escalate because it is not only a problem of evasion of the IEPS, which stops entering the Federation, but it also strengthens criminal structures.” It was then when we began to analyze that it was not just tax evasion, but that they were using that money to finance Morena campaigns. Upon discovering all this, of course they had to go against the person who had found the largest corruption network that has existed in the country and had confronted the President of the Republic. The dissatisfaction of opposition governments with the actions and public policies of the president was known. I had the opportunity to tell him face to face, on national television, looking him in the eyes and without hesitation.
—President Claudia Sheinbaum has called you a “fugitive from justice,” while you present yourself as a “persecuted from justice.” What does he answer?
I answered it immediately: I cannot be a fugitive from justice that was denied to me. They fabricated crimes. I have shown that all this was an operation of political persecution against one of the main opponents of the López Obrador regime, the so-called Fourth Transformation and the president herself. Not only am I uncomfortable, but I represent a unifying factor for the opposition. I have the ability to unite political forces and opponents against an authoritarian regime that has caused a lot of damage. I won the corresponding instances and demonstrated that all this was a fabrication. They did not accuse me of organized crime, links to drug trafficking, alliances with criminal groups or corruption. It all started with the sale of an apartment and a parking space. Incredible as it may seem, that was the fabrication they used and that went so far as to make me the only governor in the history of Mexico subjected to a process of removal of immunity of that nature, which was illegal and unconstitutional. The case set a precedent and generated jurisprudence in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation to prevent a similar action from being used in the persecution of another governor or opponent, because governors have local jurisdiction.
—Does Mexico maintain the extradition request against you?
That’s what they say. We do not have direct knowledge. For an extradition, elements are required and they have to prove the accusations. Here, unlike Mexico, law and justice are respected. There they act at the whim of the president or the ruler in power. The United States authorities have been informed of this entire process since 2021 and are fully aware of the situations to which we have been subjected. The government of Claudia Sheinbaum – and previously that of López Obrador, which in the end represent the same thing – monopolized the three powers. It controls the Executive and obtained a qualified majority in both chambers after the Electoral Court granted it overrepresentation that I consider illegal. More recently, it took over the Judiciary through what is now known as the ‘Supreme Court of the Accordion’. We received an attack from the three powers like no other politician has faced.
—Sheinbaum promotes a reform to prevent people with dual nationality from aspiring to the Presidency or a governorship. How do you receive this measure given that you have Mexican and American nationality?
This is already contemplated in the Constitution. When someone aspires to an elected position, especially a federal one, they have to renounce their other nationality. The reality is that Sheinbaum and Morena are not bothered by any dual nationality. They have a phobia against dual Mexican and American nationality. In a morning conference he gave as an example the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who has Colombian and Italian nationalities, but they said nothing there. What bothered them was the American nationality of ‘El Tigre’ (De la Espriella in Colombia). That sends a very unfortunate message because now it turns out that Mexicans with dual American nationality are under suspicion, even though that community is the one that contributes the most money to our country through remittances, which constitute Mexico’s second income. More than 11 million have dual nationality. The message is: “Money is welcome, but you have no right to participate politically.” They want first and second class Mexicans. We are going to fight this reform. We will go to the Supreme Court, although we know the fate that could happen because they manipulate it. We will also turn to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to denounce the message that the president sends, at a very inopportune moment, to our main trading partner and ally: the United States.
