Mexico's Ex-Navy Official Faces Charges, Defense Plans Legal Challenge

The legal team representing former vice admiral Fernando Farías Laguna is preparing to challenge his indictment and preventive detention, announcing their intention to file a writ of amparo. Farías was recently ordered to remain in preventive custody at the Altiplano prison.

His lawyer, Epigmenio Mendieta, stated that the appeal will directly target alleged "fundamental violations" in the case, bypassing a standard appeal process. Mendieta specifically criticized the "unofficial preventive detention," which he argues is "clearly unconventional" based on rulings by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.

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We will go first for the amparo, we will not go for an appeal, we will go directly for the amparo, it seems to me that the violations that have been committed are fundamental for the purpose of going against it and we will do it jointly also combating unofficial preventive detention, which as the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation has already decided, is clearly unconventional.

During a hearing at the Federal Criminal Justice Center in Almoloya de Juárez, the control judge acknowledged the existence of a criminal scheme involving fuel smuggling, implicating various state secretariats, Pemex, businessmen, customs agents, and dock permit holders. However, the defense strongly disputes the prosecution's assertion that two mid-ranking naval officers, Fernando and Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna, directed this extensive operation.

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All this framework that the judge recognizes in her order of linkage, intends to attribute the direction to two mid-ranking marines, that is, two mid-ranking marines have the possibility, according to the FGR's reasoning, to decide in all these state secretariats and a very complex operation.

Mendieta questioned the logic of the Federal Attorney General's Office (FGR), asking how two mid-ranking officers could possibly command such a wide array of state secretariats, Pemex, the Navy, the National Guard, and the Secretariat of Energy. He emphasized the complexity of the operation, suggesting it is implausible for two individuals to control such a vast and intricate network of supervision and authorization for product imports.

The defense also indicated that "important names" were mentioned during the proceedings, including references to individuals whose influence could resolve significant logistical issues, such as a ship stuck in Guaymas. Additionally, a protected witness reportedly linked dock operations to associates of a prominent politician.

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It is not true that two marines can decide in customs, the Navy, the Secretariat of National Defense, the National Guard, the Secretariat of Energy and others that are in charge of supervision and authorization of importing products. It is not true that two marines can have all that operation.