▲ At the Navy collection center, in the south of the capital, a woman delivers food to those affected by rain in several states.Photo Cristina Rodríguez
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The senior officials of the national customs system, none other than the director, Rafael Marín Mollinedo, and the general director of customs investigation, Tonatiuh Márquez, yesterday released data, details and anecdotes that show some traces of the great wall of corruption related to these activities.
To justify the current complaints, the first one said that “the mule was not surly.” Marín Mollinedo is the cousin of Nicolás Mollinedo Bastar, known as Nico, who was the historic driver of the car in which Andrés Manuel López Obrador was transported; Now, appointed by President Sheinbaum in February of this year, he is once again director of customs, having been from December 2022 until June 2023 when he was appointed by AMLO as Mexico’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization.
The aforementioned surly mule might wonder at this point why, in his first term as top customs chief, Marín Mollinedo did not detect, denounce and punish what he is now revealing: ridiculous payments for importing containers, it was one of the almost anecdotal examples he gave of institutionalized corruption.
But, now, Marín Mollinedo would tell the sullen sterile hybrid animal that things are different: “right now the huachicol fiscal; It was through the customs in the north and the ports (…) We have stopped it and we are waiting. If one is discovered, we proceed immediately and report it to the prosecutor’s office.”
Previously, during the Obrero administration, the aforementioned public servant was general director of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and head of the Federal Authority for the Development of Special Economic Zones. If you find any serious irregularity or crime in these assignments, you may report it a few years in the future.
Tonatiuh Márquez, the head of the customs investigation, also attended the session in the Senate seeking to approve a reform to the branch law. At the exit, before journalists, just as Marín Mollinedo had done, he made statements. One of them, shocking: 30 customs agents, out of a total of 850, would be the ones who controlled (past tense) fuel smuggling. Of the 850 existing agents, it has been possible to “cancel” the activity of 45 (among them thirty bosses). Customs agents are professionals, authorized by the Treasury, to manage customs operations on behalf of third parties; They are legal representatives of importers and exporters.
As for judicial action, that is, justice, until last month there were 818 investigation files for fuel smuggling called huachicol prosecutor, some of whose participants are in jail; But there are 6,889 more files, without detainees, and only 310 brought before judges, with 326 linked to proceedings and more than 78 people sentenced.
The scandalous panorama that the heads of the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM) have spread is not only in the explanatory or pedagogical field, but also seeks to raise awareness so that the customs reform project is approved in the Congress of the Union. This model of exhibition of purulence, normally without proportional punishment, has frequently been used to argue that the analytical or openly critical voices of reforms promoted by the new powers obey the interest of the corruption shown.
In this case, in addition to the intention to create a new customs “class”, with operators favorable to reformists, the aim is to open the way to joint actions or greater cooperation with US agencies, within the framework of pressure from the Trump administration.
And, while President Sheinbaum continues her visits to areas affected by the recent vigorous rains, covering the cost of coming forward and assisting personally, which is less than that of isolating and disconnecting from the demanding social desperation that multiplies and overflows in these cases, until tomorrow!
Facebook: Julio Astillero
