Vice Admiral Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna—accused of participating in a criminal network that illegally smuggled millions of liters of fuel from the United States through the Tampico and Altamira customs checkpoints—stated in a letter sent to President Claudia Sheinbaum and Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles: “I am being singled out as guilty, while eyes are closed to avoid seeing which of your fellow party members are the true culprits and those actually responsible.” In what marks his seventh letter addressed to the head of state, Farías Laguna—currently imprisoned at Federal Social Readaptation Center (Cefereso) No. 1, Altiplano—wrote: “I am not deprived of my liberty for having betrayed my country, nor for having betrayed my values or my military tradition.
“I am facing criminal proceedings because I was implicated by an anonymous YouTube video; that is the evidence used to initiate the legal process against me. I continue to be denied full access to my own defense, and essential information is being withheld while a public narrative is constructed—one that casts both my brother and me as the sole culprits in a scheme from which others actually profited. Yet, I am conveniently singled out as guilty in advance, without respect for the presumption of innocence as a procedural right.”
In the document, dated June 1—National Navy Day—he notes that he has been imprisoned for nine months and reiterates that he is “accused of a crime I did not commit and of a scheme that it would have been impossible for me to carry out.”
He mentioned having served in the Mexican Navy for over 30 years—”at sea, in operations, in naval zones and regions, and in strategic, operational, and administrative roles. I did so with discipline, honor, duty, loyalty, and love for my country. I am the son and grandson of sailors who gave their lives in service to the nation; I am not a criminal, as they wish to portray me. For my family and me, serving Mexico was never mere rhetoric; it was a way of life.
“That is why undergoing this process is deeply painful; it hurts to see how an honorable institution like the Mexican Navy—comprising thousands of valuable women and men—is now being used to maintain silence, conceal information, shift blame onto others, and deny the fundamental elements needed to mount an adequate defense.” He also noted that, as the deadline for the extended supplementary investigation approached (the period ended on June 4), the prosecution had still not handed over all the volumes, annexes, and technical data comprising the investigation file. Furthermore, he had been denied full access to forensic reports and technical evidence crucial to the case; the Secretariat of the Navy sought to withhold key information on national security grounds, even though that information could prove his innocence.
The document states that he is not asking for special privileges, but rather for the right to due process, the right to know the full extent of the “evidence” and accusations against him, and “the right to ensure that the truth is not replaced by narratives politically manufactured by State institutions.”
“I have watched as, for months, attempts have been made to establish a narrative portraying some of us as guilty before we have even been heard; yet I have also seen questions and allegations—which no one previously dared to raise—gradually begin to emerge, because the truth always finds a way to break through and prevail.”
Farías Laguna concludes his letter by stating that he is a “career naval officer, not someone who can be used as a pawn or a scapegoat.”
