Quintana Roo: Romanian Mafia Tied to Mexican Politicians

Yaqui for Borderland Beat 

The federal government's security cabinet detected a network of politicians from PVEM , PRI , PRD , PT and Morena (as well as officials from the Quintana Roo Prosecutor's Office) who allegedly protect and collaborate with the Romanian mafia led by Florian Tudor, "El Tiburon" , dedicated to cloning tourist bank cards, trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and extortion from merchants.

Intelligence information obtained by Milenio indicates that in this protection network were the former PRI governors of Quintana Roo, Félix Arturo González Canto and Roberto Borge , as well as deputies from the Green Party and former PRI and PRD mayors of the entity, including Benito Juárez, whose municipal seat is Cancún. Also operators and members of Morena and the Labor Party.

In a document presented in October 2020 in the security cabinet , the leader of the National Movement for Hope and former local deputy in Mexico City, René  Bejarano , stands out as one of Tudor's main links by the intelligence services .

It is noted that through various collaborators, Bejarano used the Morena Party and even acted under the name of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador - AMLO- to defraud citizens and businessmen of Cancun, according to the document.

According to a confidential map of links and collaborators presented on October 29 at the security cabinet meeting, "El Tiburon" , also known as "Rechinu" , managed to weave in 14 states a network of officials and shell companies that, according to information from the FBI and the DEA , allowed it to operate in at least 15 countries. But the center of its operations is Cancun, Quintana Roo.

The presence of politicians from all parties stands out in the Romanian boss's network of contacts. From the Labor and Morena Party, José Luis Jonathan Yong Mendoza, aspiring local deputy from Quintana Roo, was identified by Morena and son of José Luis Yong Cruz, whom the authorities link with the trafficking of undocumented Cubans, and a sentimental partner of Silvia Susana González Franco, who worked at the Attorney General's Office from 2006 to 2011.

In the list of connections the presence of politicians emanating from the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico is notorious, for example, José de la Peña Ruiz de Chávez, current local deputy in Quintana Roo for the PVEM (indicated by influence peddling) and Laura Lynn Fernández Peña, Municipal President of Puerto Morelos for El Verde, ie The Green Party.

Likewise, at least two former Cancun mayors are in the crosshairs of the federal authorities. This is the case of the former president of Benito Juárez and federal deputy for Quintana Roo, Roberto Estrada Barba, of the PRI-PVEM-Nueva Alianza alliance, and Greg Sánchez, municipal president between 2008 and 2010, and who, according to the report to the that Milenio had access, "is accused by the Argentine government of alleged crimes of money laundering and tax evasion for the cash purchase of a country property near Buenos Aires, valued at $2 million dollars, US."

The intelligence file has data provided by the DEA, which warned the Mexican government that the start of operations of the Romanian cells dates from the six-year term of Félix Arturo González Canto, governor of Quintana Roo between 2005 and 2011, who collaborated in the establishment of these criminal groups.  

The former PRI governor was investigated by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Finance for money laundering and illicit enrichment. During his management, the Audit detected a diversion of funds for 20 million pesos.

Later, Roberto Borge, a former governor already in prison, gave Tudor protection to continue its operations.

The police conspiracy:

Along with the political connections, the security cabinet has documented the existence of an apparatus of officials from the Quintana Roo prosecutor's office and local police who helped protect the Romanian boss.

Among these is Pablo Mauricio Amezcua Dorador , former Director of Inspection of Quintana Roo and arrested in 2019 in Miami for possession of heroin and thousands of dollars in cash.

Amezcua confessed in Panama that he was engaged in money laundering with investment in real estate development. The DEA identifies him as the one in charge of connecting via Cancun-Romania the illicit trafficking of substances and trafficking humans for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Also, Jesús Aíza Kaluf, "El Sirio" , who was deputy director of operations of the Secretariat of Public Security in Veracruz and secretary of Public Security in Benito Juárez, Quintana Roo, in 2014. Currently, according to the intelligence investigations of the security cabinet, He is a shareholder in three companies and he advocated before the Attorney General's Office in favor of Tudor and Adrián Cosmin , his main partner.

As of October 29, 2020, the security cabinet agreed to reinforce the investigation against this network, with which the Finance Unit was able to freeze 79 accounts last week, including those of the Romanian Florian Tudor , his financial companies and operators.

140 Romanian Citizens Held at the Cancun Airport:

Between Monday and Tuesday of last week, 140 Romanian citizens who arrived in Cancun on Lufthansa and Airfrance flights were detained by immigration authorities, after it was suspected that some were related to Tudor.

On Wednesday, February 3, the Romanian honorary consul in Quintana Roo reported that of the 140 people held, 136 managed to be admitted to enter the country, while another four were repatriated.

Since January 30, more than one hundred people of Romanian origin have been detained by authorities of the National Migration Institute (INM) at the Cancun International Airport, Quintana Roo, under the justification that some of those detained have a travel alert. 

Specifically, several of these tourists are allegedly related to crimes such as card cloning and human trafficking:

For just over a year, Mexican government authorities have targeted a group of Romanians allegedly related to these crimes, and the retention  has prompted complaints from the Romanian authorities.  

It may be remembered that at the end of March 2019,  Milenio reported that the Mexican Army detained two Romanians in Cancun: "Florian "T" and Adrián "C"; at the time, they carried a reserved-use weapon, several useful cartridges, a luxury vehicle, and about $ 26,000 in cash. 

Although they were released due to lack of evidence, later, through an arrest warrant, two other people of the same nationality were arrested. The name of "Florian "T" drew international attention, since in Romania he is wanted for cyber fraud, information theft and bank card cloning, although in Mexico he is the main partner of Intacash , an ATM company with great presence in Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen. 

In September 2015, the British newspaper Daily Mail published an extensive investigation carried out in Cancun by a cybersecurity expert that detected that at least 19 ATMs located in the Riviera Maya had been tapped . According to the publication, card cloning in the Mexican Caribbean, frequented by millions of tourists each year, yields more than $5,000,000 USD per month. 

Due to the retention of Romanian citizens who arrived in Cancun on a Lufthansa flight, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) received a complaint from the Romanian authorities , which was forwarded to the INM. In a statement, the Romanian authorities indicated that “between January 30 and 31, 2021, the Romanian embassy in Mexico City received a series of requests for consular assistance from Romanian citizens who were not allowed to enter the Estados Unidos Mexicanos, upon arrival at the airports of Mexico City and Cancun ”.

According to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mexican authorities indicated various reasons for detaining the people, including that the purpose of the trip was not justified and that others had travel alerts that were activated when reviewing their documents. 

From IndicePolitico: 

The tentacles of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA, for its acronym in English) established a Cancun-Romania connection in matters of illicit drug trafficking and human trafficking for sexual exploitation purposes, after the arrest in Miami, Florida, of the partner of former governor Félix González Canto and former municipal official of Benito Juárez, Pablo Mauricio Amezcua Dorador.

DEA sources revealed that the capture in Miami, Florida, of Amezcua Dorador, after landing aboard a private aircraft from Panama in September 2019, the investigations reached Cancun, Quintana Roo, where the former Director of Inspection In the times of the former president of Benito Juárez, Gregorio “Greg” Sánchez, who remained in office during the interim presidency of the late Latifa Muza Simón, owns a company in partnership with Laurentiu Manea, a Mexican of Romanian origin.

According to Sol Quintana Roo, the investigation by the US authorities is focused on Pablo Mauricio Amezcua Dorador and Laurentiu Manea, both partners of the company “Party Brothers SA de CV” created in April 2018 and dedicated to the opening of nightclubs and restaurants in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and in Mérida, Yucatán. Pablo Mauricio Amezcua Dorador, was Director of Inspection, during the presidential triennium shared by the questioned mayors Gregorio Sánchez Martínez and the late Latifa Muza Simón in the municipality of Benito Juárez.

Since that golden age of corruption in the municipality of Benito Juárez, Amezcua Dorador was singled out for committing improper acts in the public function.

This former official appeared in the investigations of the Superior State Audit in the fiscal year of the 2009 public account of the Benito Juárez City Council in the 2008-2011 administration where there was an embezzlement of 18 million pesos.

According to the investigations of the audit body, these were resources for concepts of salary advances, expenses to be verified, per diem, among others, which have not been paid or verified at the end of the corresponding fiscal year, however, they are acts that violated the public function .

In addition, during the time of Amezcua Dorador as Director of Inspection in the municipality of Benito Juárez, merchants and businessmen were victims of a true terrorism of closures and extortion for those who did not comply with the bribes commanded by this character today accused of drug trafficking.

For a time, Amezcua Dorador dedicated himself to social life and the opening of clubs in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, in Quintana Roo, and Mérida, Yucatán, through the company "Party Brothers SA de CV" created in April 2018 in partnership with Laurentiu Manea, Mexican of Romanian origin.

It was not until 2019 that he was arrested in Miami, Florida, in the company of businessman Guillermo Barrera Lara, an arrest that occurred by DEA elements when they both landed on board a private flight from Panama.

In addition to carrying large amounts of dollars on the plane and also carrying a considerable amount of heroin with them. The two subjects were made available to the Court of the Southern District of Florida, of the United States District Court, in charge of Judge Lissette Marie Reid, a fact that was integrated with the control number 19-3350-MJ-REID in the United States court.

It is worth noting that the DEA's well-founded suspicions regarding human trafficking for sexual exploitation purposes are due to the fact that “Party Brothers SA de CV” could be a front company dedicated to the recruitment of women of foreign origin introduced to Mexico to perform in various unclear activities.

In the articles of incorporation of "Party Brothers SA de CV" it indicates that its main activities are the realization of all types of contracting, commercialization, promotion, production, distribution and organization of artistic, cultural, social, sports, educational, tourist and political activities.

Likewise, "Party Brothers SA de CV" is empowered to hold concerts, exhibitions, seminars, panels, events, fairs, conventions, functions, competitions, tournaments, championships, contests, festivals, shows, tours, parties, festivals, excursions, charreadas, popular dances, artistic exhibitions, auctions, bazaars, gastronomic exhibitions, contests, forums, catwalks, raffles, lotteries, fights and other similar events and activities both locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, as well as, the commercialization, purchase and sale of any type of equipment and products related to this activity.

In addition, it aims to promote, organize and carry out all kinds of artistic events, concerts, shows, parties and recreational activities, both local and outdoor, organization of festivals, events and concerts. It also has among its assets, the promotion and organization of shows and events of an artistic nature, (jugglers, magicians, clowns, musical activities, singers, children's entertainment, play workshops, popular and themed parties), among others.

The duo Pablo Mauricio Amezcua Dorador and Guillermo Barrera Lara conducted business with the former governor of Quintana Roo Félix González Canto through the purchase and sale of land owned by the state patrimony. As said, both characters were arrested in Miami, Florida, in possession of money of illicit origin and drugs, so they are not only partners but also accomplices of acts that violate Mexican and American laws.

Guillermo Barrera Lara is the owner of the company "IPIC Tulum, SAPI DE CV", with which he markets land and real estate of suspicious origin, in partnership with Francisco Alfaro Gallaga, Marco Vinicio Javier Gallardo Espinoza, Mario Ramos Catala and Gerardo Miguel Gómez Nieto. But the businesses of Barrera Lara that offend the people of Quintana Roo and that were widely documents and denounced were carried out with former governor Félix González Canto. This character is linked to the scandal of suspicious operations of properties acquired at laughable prices before the Institute of Real Estate Heritage of the Public Administration (IPAE) of Quintana Roo, precisely for which the then governor, Félix González Canto, was denounced.

The events were documented and denounced by the association 'We are your Eyes', chaired by the activist Fabiola Cortés. She reported that in November 2007, Barrera Lara bought from IPAE, through the payment of 1,785,000, 996 MD Pesos, a piece of land with an area of ​​29,000.766 m2. That land multiplied its value when Barrera Lara sold it for almost five million a year later to an Italian businessman, who in turn transferred it to the Somix company in 2008.

By then the value of the property and the operation reached 13 million pesos. It is located on Federal Highway 307 with Boca Paila Highway, Lot 001, Mz 007, Sm 001, TULUM Subdivision oficio DC1115 / 07 (Cadastre). At the time and from the beginning, the real value of the property was 5 million 953 thousand 320 pesos.

It is known that the former governor González Canto has referred that this operation, along with others that add up to more than fifty sales of properties, would have been pre-written in the event that a crime had been committed. Currently, Guillermo Barrera Lara's company, registered with the Public Property Registry is "IPIC Tulum, SAPI DE CV", and was created in 2017 and is made up of other partners. They are Francisco Alfaro Gallaga, president; Guillermo Barrera Lara, treasurer, Marco Vinicio Javier Gallardo Espinoza, Mario Ramos Catalá and Gerardo Miguel Gómez Nieto, secretaries, A, B and C, respectively.

This company is dedicated to the recruitment, selection, hiring or providing human and personal resources, either on its own or through third parties, to offer personal services in different operational, technical, administrative and business areas, according to the needs of third parties. that require it. 

Its corporate purpose is also the purchase, sale, lease and sublease of all kinds of real estate to establish, install, operate, rent, rent, manage and exploit hotels, motels, developments or tourist complexes, vacation centers, tourist cabins, hospitals, medical clinics, commercial establishments in general, entertainment centers, social and sports clubs, shopping centers, cafeterias, restaurants, bars, discotheques, nightclubs and all those activities related to the tourism, gastronomic and health industries; natural and processed foods, raw materials, machinery and, in general, all kinds of furniture, equipment and merchandise, as well as the establishment of stores and shops for these items.

According to the annotation before the Public Property Registry, it is also empowered to organize, administer, operate, promote, represent, disseminate and operate all types of public or private events, theme and amusement parks, as well as restaurants, bars, nightclubs, hotels, motels, condominiums, shops, show rooms, nightclubs, resorts, massage centers, recreational, entertainment and lodging centers, as well as the purchase, sale, distribution and marketing of wines, spirits, soft drinks, beers; buy, lease, sell, manage, use, operate and carry out all kinds of operations with advertising inflatables, coolers and, in general, any product used to advertise; to be an agent, commission agent and mediator between natural or legal persons, national or foreign;

The design, construction, supervision, subdivision, subdivision, constitution in condominium regime and remodeling of all kinds of real estate, such as land, houses, condominiums, hotels, motels, cabins, commercial premises, shopping malls, apartments, restaurants, bars, cafeterias, discotheques, nightclubs, without contravening the provisions set forth in the Foreign Investment Law.

It is noteworthy that the companies of the two alleged criminals engaged in drug trafficking and human trafficking for sexual purposes, according to the DEA, have similar activities, that is, "Party Brothers SA de CV" (by Pablo Mauricio Amezcua Dorador) and "IPIC Tulum, SAPI DE CV" (by Guillermo Barrera Lara) have coinciding activities.

This fact draws attention, which is why they are investigated by the DEA for the same reasons, which is why the Cancun-Romania connection was established, in which former governor Félix González Canto does not escape.

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Source: Milenio / milenio /