Mexico Dismisses ‘Lord Relojes’ Customs Official After U.S. Visa Revocation

Mexico City — President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the departure of Alex Tonatiuh Márquez Hernández, publicly known as “Lord Relojes”, from the General Directorate of Customs Investigation and his termination within the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM), ending the tenure of an official embroiled in multiple allegations of alleged illicit enrichment and patrimonial display incompatible with his public service career.

Although the president maintained that the decision was made directly by Customs head Rafael Marín Mollinedo and claimed to have no official knowledge of open investigations abroad, the dismissal occurs in a particularly sensitive context. In early December, the United States government reportedly revoked his visa, an unusual measure for a high-ranking official responsible for strategic areas related to security, commerce, and combating smuggling.

The Political Key: His Closeness to Rafael Marín Mollinedo

Márquez Hernández was not a minor official within the customs organizational chart. At ANAM, he was identified as the right-hand man of Customs head Rafael Marín Mollinedo, a figure mentioned in 4T circles as one of the aspirants for the governorship of Quintana Roo. The fall of “Lord Relojes” not only affects a technical area but directly impacts the closest political environment of the national customs chief.

Who is Alex Tonatiuh Márquez, “Lord Relojes”?

The nickname “Lord Relojes” became synonymous with the case after he displayed an openly ostentatious lifestyle, far beyond what his income as a public servant would allow. Journalistic investigations — including those by Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad (MCCI) — documented that the former official accumulated a collection of high-end watches valued at over 7.7 million pesos.

Among the pieces stands out a watch purchased in cash for approximately 3.7 million pesos in 2017, when Márquez worked at the Mexico City Labor Prosecutor’s Office with a modest salary. The total value of his collection even exceeded patrimonies displayed at the time by figures such as Emilio Lozoya or former union leader Carlos Romero Deschamps.

To this patrimony is added a three-level penthouse in Polanco, a property that Márquez himself declared with a value of 7 million pesos, although real estate market estimates place it around 22 million pesos.

Fiscal Huachicol and Washington’s Signal

The position held by Alex Tonatiuh Márquez was strategic: from the General Directorate of Customs Investigation, he was supposed to combat crimes such as fiscal huachicol and fuel smuggling. However, various internal complaints and public allegations paradoxically linked him to hydrocarbon trafficking networks and corruption schemes.

Security specialists interpret the cancellation of his U.S. visa as a direct message from Washington due to the lack of visible results from Mexican authorities. While in Mexico there was talk of “ongoing investigations” without concrete consequences, the United States applied an immediate veto, suggesting that the official was no longer reliable for bilateral cooperation.

Despite the official discourse of the 4T insisting on “sweeping away corruption” and the case being exposed even in the morning press conferences since 2023, Márquez Hernández remained in his position for months. His dismissal materializes only when media pressure and international impact made his continued presence unsustainable, placing not only the former official under scrutiny but also the political networks that sustained him within the federal customs apparatus.