Restructuring the system: AMLO’s plans to clean up Mexican ports

The Mexican government has replaced at least four port administrators and assigned three new federal posts to carry out President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) plan to clean up the country’s ports and customs service with help from the armed forces. 

The communications and transport ministry (SCT) announced on Monday that two navy secretariat (Semar) officials and one naval captain had assumed control of Tampico and Altamira ports in Tamaulipas state and Tuxpan port in Veracruz.

The ministry also confirmed that the administration of Puerto Vallarta port in Jalisco state had been taken over on August 7 by a third member of Semar. 

As a result, naval captain Óscar Miguel Ochoa Gorena is the new head of Altamira port administrator API Altamira, vice-admiral Miguel Báez Barrera will be in charge of API Tampico, vice-admiral Nicodemus Villagómez Broca was assigned to API Tuxpan and admiral Víctor Francisco Uribe Arévalo is the new director of API Puerto Vallarta. 

The decisions are part of AMLO’s latest move to eradicate corruption within ports and customs, which cost former SCT minister Javier Jiménez Espriú his job at the end of July. 

According to SCT, new minister Jorge Arganis Díaz Leal and the president himself chose the new API directors, but their names had been proposed by Semar head José Rafael Ojeda Durán. 

It is still unclear whether the government will make changes at the other 20-plus ports that make up Mexico’s port network. However, the president said on July 25 that the administrations of Manzanillo port (API Manzanillo) in Colima state and Lázaro Cárdenas (API Lázaro Cárdenas) in Michoacán state would be taken over by another two Semar admirals, daily La Jornada reported. 

The plan centers on fighting drug-trafficking and corruption, but it is still unclear how the decisions will affect port projects.

PORT INFRASTRUCTURE

All port infrastructure approvals now depend on Rosa Icela Rodríguez, named by AMLO on July 25 as port and marine commerce coordinator. 

She will be responsible for the supervision and implementation of port policies, concessions, permits, security, fees and international commerce, among others, according to daily El Financiero. 

Rodríguez appears to have been turned into Mexico's main port authority, even though she is not part of either defense ministry Sedena or Semar. 

SCT’s new head has also created two new posts to support Rodríguez, namely a new port promotion and administration general director and a new general port director, SCT announced on August 7. 

Yet, none of the three new officials’ backgrounds include experience in port management or maritime transportation, only public administration. 

Instead of highlighting the officials' port expertise, the government has emphasized their ethical background. 

BACKGROUND

AMLO said on July 17 that he had decided to hand over control of the country’s ports and customs to Sedena and Semar given the spike in corruption and drug-trafficking cases – especially in Colima, where he made the announcement. 

But efforts to stop the flow of weapons, drugs, cash and other items through ports are not new. 

Military involvement in ports also took place in 2016, when the federal government sent navy officials to Lázaro Cárdenas port, which was under the control of the Caballeros Templarios cartel. The criminal group imported illegal substances from Asia and exported minerals to China, reports said at the time. 

Another example dates to 2007 when a record shipment of 26t of cocaine arranged by drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán was seized by authorities at Manzanillo port.

From 2012-19, tax authority SAT, which coordinates the country’s customs service, submitted a total of 199 corruption complaints against public officials working at the ports. But only 25 of those have made it to court, daily El País reported on Monday. 

Media reports also cite cases that range from drug cartels managing to bring in containers full of weapons, to officials taking big cash bribes in exchange for overlooking illegal procedures. 

Mexico has a total of 117 ports, although 24 of those comprise the country’s main maritime transportation network. These consists of 16 federally controlled ports, five state-controlled ports and one that is privately controlled. The other two are managed by tourism board Fonatur. 

Photo credit: Semar