Argentina sends former admiral Farías Laguna to Mexico

Reporting and context

Argentina deported former Mexican Navy rear admiral Fernando Farías Laguna to Mexico, where he is expected to face federal proceedings in an investigation into alleged tax-related fuel smuggling at customs, El Diario de Juárez reports. Farías arrived in Mexico City early Friday after spending about four months in Argentina. Mexican authorities had withdrawn an extradition request and used deportation instead, a decision the report says was intended to speed his transfer.

The report says Farías left Buenos Aires on Thursday aboard a Mexican Navy Gulfstream G450. After a stop in Cali, Colombia, the aircraft continued to Mexico. He is expected to be taken to the federal prison known as El Altiplano in the State of Mexico, where he will remain available to judicial authorities. The travel details and destination are attributed to the newspaper's account.

Farías was arrested in Buenos Aires on April 23 after arriving from Colombia with a Guatemalan passport allegedly issued in the name of Luis Lemus Ramos, according to the report. Mexican authorities accuse him and his brother of leading an alleged corruption network that allowed 31 vessels carrying so-called fiscal huachicol to enter the ports of Altamira and Tampico between 2024 and 2025. The Attorney General's Office says the group was involved in the alleged maritime smuggling, dispersal and distribution of fuel, and that the seizure of one vessel in 2024 caused losses of more than 340 million pesos to the organization. These are allegations in an ongoing case, not a conviction.