Rear Admiral Fernando Farías Laguna enters the El Altiplano prison after being expelled from Argentina

Rear Admiral Fernando Farías Laguna arrived yesterday at 3 in the morning at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) after being expelled from Argentina.

Three hours later, guarded by Navy and National Guard personnel, he was admitted to the maximum security prison of El Altiplano, and was placed at the disposal of Judge Alejandra Ramirez de la Vega, who did not authorize the hearing to be public in which the Attorney General's Office (FGR) announced the evidence it has gathered from the members, companies and officials that make up a criminal group dedicated to maritime smuggling of millions of liters of fuel.

Sources close to the defendant's defense indicated that they will request the duplication of the constitutional term (from 72 to 144 hours) so that it is defined if he is linked to the process. Meanwhile, it was expected that early in the morning he would be placed in preventive detention pending whether it is determined that he should be subject to trial.

Judge Ramírez de la Vega scheduled the initial hearing for 5:30 p.m., but it was not until after 9 p.m. that she started the proceedings. There were no public explanations, only the versions about the delay that were unofficially made known by officials of the Judicial Branch of the Federation (PJF) because they had other hearings.

From 9 in the morning, Farías Lagunas' defense advocated for the hearing to be public and allow access to the media. He argued, among other things, that the FGR has been in charge for months of making public the accusations against his client and the Constitution guarantees that judicial proceedings are presented by the press and the public.

However, yesterday, the hearing – scheduled by videoconference from 10 in the morning – started four hours late, with the request of the Federal Public Ministry that it be private. After a debate of more than an hour and a half, he rejected the arguments of Farías' lawyers.

The Public Ministry argued that in reading the file, sensitive data would be revealed to be publicly exposed, which is why it insisted on the need for it to be private. And so he determined it.

At the close of this edition, Farías Laguna (connected from the maximum security prison) and his lawyers followed by videoconference the accusations made against him by the FGR for the commission of crimes in the field of hydrocarbons (fiscal huachicol), organized crime and money laundering for allegedly participating as one of the leaders of a criminal organization that introduced millions of liters of fuel into the national territory using tankers through the maritime customs of Ensenada, Baja California and Altamira, Tamaulipas.

Farías Laguna was arrested on April 23 of this year, after having fled Mexico in September 2025.