However, if the government of President Sheinbaum is really interested in continuing to dismantle networks of corruption and criminality that involve the armed forces, the challenges will be enormous.
At his weekend press conference, Omar García Harfuch was careful to minimize marine participation In the Huachicol Network: “The isolated act of a few does not represent the actions of this honorable institution,” said the Secretary of Security. For his part, prosecutor Alejandro Gertz hastened to thank the cooperation with the investigation of Admiral Rafael Ojeda, Secretary of the Navy during the Sexenio de López Obrador, political uncle and labor godfather of the Vice Admiral Manuel Roberto Farías one of the leaders of this Net of Huachicol, which was already apprehended. Another political nephew of Ojeda, the backwards Fernando Farías, is a fugitive in the same case.
In this way, Harfuch and Gertz demarcated the Navy as an institution and former Secretary Ojeda of any participation in fuel smuggling that, according to Harfuch himself, caused billions of pesos of losses to the Mexican treasury. Of course, the situation is delicate for the secretary and the prosecutor.
I directly involve the Admiral Secretary of López Obrador in the case is not anything, although the smuggling of fuel and fraud in Mexican customs could hardly have happened without their knowledge and, therefore, participation either by action or omission. Moreover, involving the Navy is equivalent to the federal government with one of the most important institutions in the security strategy and, increasingly, in the functioning of the Mexican State in items that transcend national security (such as infrastructure and control of ports, airports and tourism).
In addition, no civil government in the world wants to have a bad relationship with the military for simple basic instinct of survival. As if that were not enough, there are two murders in mysterious conditions with many indications of being linked to this case of fiscal huachicol.
One of the murders was that of the Comptroller Fernando Guerrero who had allegedly denounced his superiors the corrupt act of the vice councilor Farías. The other was that of the Attorney General’s Office in Colima, Magaly Nava who was allegedly investigating this case and was also a victim of homicide. Although the relationship of these homicides with the investigation of the Fiscal Huachicol network is not yet demonstrated, the logic points there: it would be difficult to think that there is no link between one murder and another, and between them and the investigation. It is a dark reminder of how difficult it is to investigate the armed forces when their elements are involved in crime and corruption networks.
Despite all these “buts” and despite recognizing the intrinsic difficulty of prudence a case of this size that implies the flagrant involvement of high -ranking military, I hope that Harfuch and Gertz’s statements are only media.
Jacobo Dayán He explained in various spaces how harmful the “rotten apple theory” that the federal government uses when it explains cases of corruption, abuse or human rights violations committed by military. According to this scheme, an isolated and specific group of elements has the responsibility, by acting incorrectly or “diverted” of the institutional standards of conduct, but the military bodies have no responsibility, since they are conducted with patriotism and adherence to the law. This explanation blames abuses to a particular group and guarantees impunity and protection of institutional and systematic behaviors that facilitate the abuse commission.
