Fuel smuggling from the United States to Mexico, which grew during the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has a clear epicenter: Tamaulipas. At its customs, sailors and soldiers were corrupted, charging millions for allowing millions of liters to pass through. Sergio Carmona, The king of huachicol, and also Roberto Blanco Cantú, The lord of the ships, a fugitive from justice, were originally from Tamaulipas. The Metros, a faction of the Gulf Cartel now linked to the CJNG, operate from there. In that entity, prosecutor Ernesto Vásquez Reyna was killed after a fuel seizure. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reported $7 billion in suspicious activity in the last year.
The criminal network at customs
A EL PAÍS database, combining confidential reports and foreign trade statistics, reveals that of the 2.8 billion liters of lubricants imported since 2019, almost 2,700 entered through the customs of Tampico, Matamoros, Altamira, Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Reynosa. In March 2025, the oil tanker Challenge Procyon arrived in Tampico with alleged additives; It was actually transporting fuel. The search led to the seizure of 10 million liters of diesel, 192 containers and 32 vehicles. This case uncovered a conspiracy that united high-ranking sailors, customs officials and businessmen, managing to smuggle at least 564 million liters in 69 ships since 2023. The Prosecutor’s Office points to Fernando and Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna, political nephews of former Secretary of the Navy José Rafael Ojeda Durán, as ringleaders.
Collaborators and leaks
Mefra Fletes, a company that distributes trafficked fuel, had Roberto Blanco Cantú as a partner since 2019. One of his pipes took the police from the Challenge Procyon to a property in Altamira where they found the millions of liters. Blanco Cantú has been a fugitive since September 2025, when another arrest warrant was issued against eight people linked to that firm. In addition, three high-ranking soldiers are fugitives accused of allowing, from Matamoros customs, the smuggling of 144 million liters between June 2024 and July 2025. Internal documents from Sedena, leaked in the Guacamaya Leaks, indicate that the Government had information about these operations for more than five years.
US sanctions and huachicol in reverse
In August 2025, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Mexicans and nine companies for fuel smuggling. He pointed to Tamaulipas, along with Nuevo León and Coahuila, as entry points. At the same time, in a trial in the US, tycoon James Jensen is accused of a huachicol in reverse: introducing crude oil stolen from Pemex from Mexico. The star witness, Luis Ariel Rivera, revealed links to the CJNG and bribery at customs. The case shows that huachicol is a shared crisis between Mexico and the United States, with multimillion-dollar losses for both countries.
