Customs officials in Matamoros have known for years that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was working inside their own building. An investigation published Wednesday by Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity makes that plain. The evidence, the group says, is a single family.
One brother, sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury as a top financial operator for organized crime. One sister, holding the same customs post that a jailed colleague used to move stolen fuel across the border.
Analee de Jesús Juraidini Silva is the sister. She has worked at the Matamoros Customs Office since 2019. Her current title: director of procedures and legal affairs.
That is the exact job Carlos Eugenio Benítez Orta held until his arrest in Texas. He is now locked up in Mexico’s El Altiplano prison.
His charge: facilitating the smuggling of illegal fuel. The scheme, according to the investigation, declared U.S. fuel as lubricant. That dodged taxes.
That benefited the CJNG. Analee’s brother is Oscar Guillermo Juraidini Silva. The U.S. Treasury slapped sanctions on him.
He is described as one of the most important financial operators of organized crime. He trafficked millions of liters of stolen fuel for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in recent years.
MCCI calls it an open secret. Years ago, people knew. Now the proof is public.
One family holds both roles: the sanctioned operator and the customs post that allegedly enabled the theft. Officials in Matamoros have not issued a public statement.
The customs office did not respond to requests for comment. Analee de Jesús Juraidini Silva remains in her position. That fact alone has drawn sharp reactions from anti-corruption experts.
“This is not a ghost. This is a named person with a known brother,” said one analyst familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity. “She holds a sensitive post.
The same post that was used to move cartel fuel. The U.S. Treasury has already named her brother.
That is a public record. So what is the Mexican government waiting for?” Others point to the pattern. The same customs office.
The same job title. One former director is in prison.
His replacement is the sister of a sanctioned cartel financier. The investigation states the CJNG is infiltrated in the customs of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. That is not speculation.
That is the conclusion drawn from the evidence MCCI gathered. “The cartel does not need to put a gun to every customs officer’s head,” said a former federal law enforcement official who worked on fuel-theft cases. “Sometimes they just put family members in place.
It is quieter. It is harder to prove.
But the result is the same: stolen fuel moves north, money moves south.” The U.S. Treasury designation of Oscar Guillermo Juraidini Silva came down earlier this year. It freezes any assets he holds in American jurisdiction. It bars U.S. persons from doing business with him.
But it does not remove his sister from her post. That is a Mexican decision.
MCCI’s report puts that decision in the spotlight. The group is asking for an investigation. They want to know how Analee de Jesús Juraidini Silva got the job.
They want to know who approved it. They want to know if anyone in the customs hierarchy knew about her brother. No answers have come.
The office is quiet. The sister still works there.
The brother is sanctioned. The cartel, according to the evidence, still has its people inside.
