Tulum Mayor Awards $24.5 Million in Contracts to Family of His Private Secretary

Tulum, Quintana Roo — Tulum Mayor Diego Castañón Trejo awarded seven public works contracts totaling 24.5 million pesos to individuals directly linked to his private secretary, Agustín Armando Lara Souza, according to official documents.

The contracts, assigned during 2024 and 2025, went to Lara Souza’s wife and father-in-law. Yosenlai Alpuche Campos, Lara Souza’s spouse, received three contracts worth 9.1 million pesos without a registered company listed. Her father’s construction firm, Alno Construcciones, received four additional contracts totaling 15.3 million pesos.

Federal Funds for Social Infrastructure

Four of the seven contracts use federal funds from the Municipal Social Infrastructure Contribution Fund (FAISMUN), which distributes money specifically for basic social works to combat extreme poverty and social backwardness related to water, drainage, electrification, and housing shortages.

The contracts awarded to Alpuche Campos include construction and equipment of the Macario Gómez Health Center (4.9 million pesos), construction of an arched roof in Akumal (1.9 million pesos), and the second stage of paving in Sahcab Mucuy (2.1 million pesos).

Alno Construcciones received contracts for rehabilitation of Tulum’s Coastal Walkway (9.9 million pesos), rehabilitation of the San Juan de Dios Health House (1.9 million pesos), an arched roof in Sahcab Mucuy (1.7 million pesos), and expansion of the Sahcab Mucuy Health Center (1.7 million pesos).

Tulum municipality published the contracts on its transparency portal with the beneficiaries’ data obscured. Cross-referencing with technical files and internal documents revealed the actual recipients.

Business Connections and Past Scrutiny

Efraín Alpuche Marrufo, Lara Souza’s father-in-law, owns both Alno Construcciones and Condisur, another construction company with presence in Quintana Roo. In 2020, the Quintana Roo Superior Audit Office flagged Condisur for overpayments and irregular documentation in the rehabilitation and equipment of Cancún’s Olympic swimming pool, a project costing over 8.8 million pesos. The audit agency ordered the promotion of sanctioning administrative responsibilities.

Alpuche Campos served as administrator of Condisur in 2015, according to company records. Alpuche Marrufo also holds stakes in several other companies including Concesionaria de Cementos de Quintana Roo, Grupo Alpean, Productos de Concreto de Chetumal, and Excelencia en Neumáticos.

Secretary’s Controversial Background

Agustín Armando Lara Souza, known as “El Tacón,” currently serves as private secretary to the Tulum mayor. During former Governor Roberto Borge Angulo’s administration (2011-2016), Lara Souza served as director of Material Resources for the state government, overseeing acquisitions and general services.

Federal investigations into the embezzlement of state resources during 2017 included Lara Souza among 80 former officials implicated in the plundering of the state treasury. A federal judge issued an arrest warrant against him as part of the investigation into the diversion of more than 11.8 billion pesos. Authorities also linked him to Borge’s network of frontmen when they seized safety deposit boxes connected to money laundering, with Lara Souza appearing as owner of cash deposits and jewelry associated with the case.

Lara Souza’s political career began with the PRI party under former Governor Borge, though the current Tulum municipal administration where he works was elected by the Morena-PVEM coalition.

In 2023, former Governor Mario Villanueva Madrid publicly accused Lara Souza of offering him a bribe to stop criticizing the Tulum government, posting a video on Facebook that generated controversy.