A report published by a Mexican NGO has raised serious questions about a 2025 seizure of illegal fuel that government officials claimed was historic because the ship carried ten million liters. The report revealed that the ship was carrying twice as much fuel as what was actually seized, raising serious questions about the widespread corruption within Mexico’s government.
This week, the NGO Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad published a report based on records from Mexico’s own government, revealing that the ship from that historic seizure was carrying almost 21 million liters of fuel, not the 10 million liters reportedly seized by authorities. The damning report raises the question of what happened to the missing fuel.
As Breitbart Texas reported, the historic seizure took place in 2025 in the port of Altamira, near Tampico, Tamaulipas, when Mexican authorities seized the ship Challenge Procyon, which had sailed from Houston towards Mexico carrying a cargo of illegal fuel. At the time, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her security officials praised the seizure as historic and claimed that her country was serious about fighting crime. However, the investigation into the widespread smuggling of illegal fuel has revealed that the highest levels of Mexico’s Navy, as well as key leaders within the ruling party MORENA, are involved in the cartel-connected business. So far, two vice-admirals who are nephews of the former Secretary of the Navy, some judges, and other top government officials have been implicated. As Breitbart Texas has reported, there have been two suspicious deaths of high-ranking military officials who were whistleblowers in the case, and a concerted effort to cover things up.
The new report from MCCI raises serious questions about the role of Mexico’s government in the case at a time when the U.S. government has been pressuring Mexico to fight cartels. Most recently, the U.S. Department of Justice criminally indicted a sitting state governor on drug trafficking charges. Mexico’s government has mobilized its legal system to protect the politician, who is from the ruling party Morena, rather than have him arrested and extradited. That governor, Ruben Rocha Moya, is a close friend and political ally of former Mexican president and MORENA founder Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the politician who built his career on the motto of Hugs Not Bullets (Abrazos no Balazos) aimed at taking a soft approach against cartels as a way to reduce violence.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.