Araceli Hernández Perea earned a net monthly salary of 60 mil pesos as the former director of purchasing for the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM) during the administration of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Records show that in June and November 2024, she partnered with her romantic partner, Alejandro Enrique Arcos Romero, to establish two Texas-based companies—Quiereme Mucho Spirits LLC and Fantastic Five Builders LLC—while simultaneously acquiring a residence inside the ultra-exclusive San Antonio enclave of The Dominion.
From Customs Procurement to San Antonio Real Estate
During her tenure as director of material resources at ANAM under the leadership of Horacio Duarte and Rafael Marín Mollinedo, Hernández Perea held oversight over multimillion-peso procurement processes. These contracts governed sensitive national security apparatuses, including the X-ray inspection equipment deployed across Mexican ports of entry to scan cargo containers, baggage, and commercial vehicles. According to financial investigations uncovered by Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad (MCCI), the real estate acquisition in San Antonio’s The Dominion community amounted to a substantial valuation, a valuation that far outstrips the purchasing power afforded by her modest civil service salary.
Real estate records analyzed alongside corporate filings demonstrate that the Texas properties were secured during a transition period in Mexican public administration. To purchase the residence outright on a government salary of 60 mil pesos per month, Hernández Perea would have had to dedicate more than two decades of her entire net earnings without spending a single peso on living expenses. Furthermore, the administrative lineage places her procurement decisions directly under the purview of figures who continue to maintain prominent roles within Mexico’s political landscape.
The Financial Networks of the Romanian Card-Cloning Syndicate
The acquisition extends far beyond domestic administrative anomalies, intersecting directly with international organized crime investigations. United States and Mexican law enforcement agencies have repeatedly identified Alejandro Enrique Arcos Romero as a key financial operator for Florian Tudor, the leader of the notorious Romanian mafia syndicate that specialized in ATM card-cloning operations targeting international tourists in Cancún and Los Cabos.
Despite these severe international financial sanctions and ongoing scrutiny from intelligence agencies, Arcos Romero transitioned smoothly into regional political campaigns. Following his tenure as private secretary to Rafael Marín Mollinedo at ANAM, Arcos Romero emerged as a close collaborator in Marín Mollinedo’s political activities.
Institutional Contagion and the Ongoing ANAM Scrutiny
Investigative findings confirm that Diego Pérez Hernández, the son of Araceli Hernández Perea, remains actively employed within the federal agency as an internal research and customs fiscal analyst.
