Mexico’s Customs Crisis: Corruption Worsens

Tamaulipas, Mexico — More than four years after the militarization of the country's customs, allegedly to combat corruption, the smuggling of goods and tanker trucks carrying "huachicol fiscal" have worsened with the complicity of authorities, according to denouncements from business owners and chambers of the private sector on the Tamaulipas border.

Roberto Cruz Hernández, secretary of the Federación Estatal de Cámaras de Comercio (Fecanaco), an employers' organization that has been denouncing corruption at the international crossings of Tamaulipas for years, warned that the wave of illegal products puts companies, jobs, and consumers in Mexico at risk.

"The truth is the problem has worsened in recent years," stated Cruz Hernández. "Reynosa and the entire country are flooded with products, particularly of Chinese origin, that enter irregularly, evading tax payments, without complying with non-tariff regulations, and through illegal commercial practices that severely distort the legitimate market," he added.

On March 1, 2021, by order of then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, armed forces commanders took over the administration of the customs offices of Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and Matamoros in Tamaulipas, as well as Colombia, Nuevo León, initiating the militarization of Mexico's international crossings, a process that was completed that same year.

Business owners from Tamaulipas, who requested anonymity for security reasons, highlighted that under military administration, tanker trucks loaded with "huachicol fiscal" cross with impunity. This refers to fuel that is imported without paying the corresponding taxes because it is declared as a lower-quality hydrocarbon.

"Companies have emerged that now only survive by importing mineral oil," explained one business owner. "Every day, hundreds of tanker trucks carrying these products pass through the Reynosa or Matamoros customs," they explained, "and it is a minimal number that actually declares it is carrying fuels."

"It is strange that this does not raise suspicions [from the military]," they questioned.

Another source recalled that the private sector in Tamaulipas has been denouncing fuel smuggling for years, but neither civilian nor military authorities have done anything about it.

One of the voices that repeatedly denounced the corruption in customs, the business owner pointed out, was Julio Almanza Armas, president of Fecanaco, who was murdered on July 31, 2024, outside his offices in Matamoros.

More than a year later, neither the administration of the Morenista Governor Américo Villarreal, the state prosecutor's office headed by Irving Barrios, nor the FGR, under Alejandro Gertz, have solved the crime.

Now that the network of "huachicol fiscal" involving naval commanders, including those from the port of Altamira, has been uncovered, the business owner demanded that investigators get to the bottom of the matter and that it not remain merely a media spectacle.

"Julio said it," the source stated, "the customs were rotten. The ports, which are controlled by the Navy, are the same."

"Today we see it," they added. "There is the investigation of the high-ranking Navy commanders detained and accused of being part of a huachicol smuggling network."