Sheinbaum: 250 US agents operate in Mexico with authorization

Deputy describes the arrest of former president as political

The president of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Deputies, Kenia López Rabadán, stated that the former governor of Baja California, Ernesto Ruffo Appel, arrested on July 16 for his alleged participation in the crime of fiscal huachicol, is a political prisoner.

In a press conference, the PAN legislator declared:

“Ernesto Ruffo forged our democracy in the late eighties… he was, for the first time, the Mexican who won an election in our entire country.”

López Rabadán questioned why Ruffo Appel, who has no public position, was detained while other authorities involved in the same network have not been prosecuted.

“I cannot accept that in such a pitiful issue… the person they put in jail is an opposition person who had no position,” he stated.

The deputy also pointed out that the judge who ordered the arrest won her position in the first judicial election of 2025, promoted by the federal Executive and through the so-called “accordions.”

“We all saw… the investigation that showed that the person who requested the arrest was a judge elected by the accordions… it is very worrying,” he said.

The case revives the debate about the selective use of justice against opposition political figures. Ruffo Appel was the first opposition governor in Mexico, after winning Baja California in 1989.

Sheinbaum will review protections that favored the alleged smuggling scheme

President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the federal government will analyze the resolutions of the previous Judicial Branch in cases of “fiscal huachicol.” This occurs after the company Ingemar S.A. of C.V. He recovered his import permit through an injunction. The company is accused of an alleged fuel smuggling scheme linked to the former governor of Baja California, Ernesto Ruffo Appel.

“Yes, of course, it’s good that you remember it. Indeed, his permit was taken away and the mechanism through which it was returned was a protection,” declared Sheinbaum.

The president recalled that during the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Ingemar’s permit was withdrawn, but a judge ordered its restoration. The investigation by the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic documents an illegal import scheme through underdeclaration of volumes to evade taxes.

According to Sheinbaum, there is “a lot of evidence” and the damage to the public treasury exceeds 4.5 billion pesos. The investigations began after detecting abandoned railway tanks in Coahuila.

As part of the measures, the Ministry of Energy strengthened fuel traceability and the exchange of information between Pemex, the SAT and the FIU.

FGR accuses Ruffo of organized crime

According to the arrest warrant against Ruffo and 24 other people, the FGR considers him “a leader within a criminal organization with functional control of the event.” He is accused of organized crime and smuggling. Ingemar moved 163 tank trucks with up to 100 thousand liters of undeclared hydrocarbons.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was sentenced to life in prison in New York. The DEA assures that this ruling is just the beginning.

The DEA warning after the sentence

Terry Cole, head of the DEA, declared after the hearing that corruption was key to Zambada’s criminal empire. “He used bribery, influence and intimidation to protect the cartel from justice, both in Mexico and beyond its borders.”

Cole warned that the Sinaloa Cartel “continues to corrupt institutions and undermine the rule of law for criminal purposes.” And he added: “Whether it takes months, years, decades, we will not stop. We will not lose focus. We will not forgive.”

“The sentencing of ‘El Mayo’ is just the beginning,” Cole said. “It is a warning to all cartel leaders, global criminal enterprises and foreign terrorists. Whether you are traffickers or corrupt government officials, the DEA will come for you.”

Prosecutor Joseph Nocella Jr., of the Eastern District of New York, said the message is clear: “‘El Mayo’ will die in prison. And with the blood he has on his hands, it is exactly what he deserves.”

Nocella called Zambada “the biggest drug trafficker of this century” and claimed that the Sinaloa Cartel “flooded the United States and the world with drugs and made billions of dollars in profits.” He also detailed that, along with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – who is already serving a life sentence in the ADX Florence prison – “they corrupted numerous officials in Mexico to protect their criminal empire. And when corruption did not work, they resorted to horrible violence, including torture, kidnapping and homicide.”

The prosecutor considered the sentence “an adequate punishment for the damage that ‘El Mayo’ caused to countless victims.”