Raúl Rocha, from jet-setting with Miss Universe to arms trafficking and fuel theft

Few stories illustrate the domino effect — the way a small piece falls and triggers a catastrophe — quite like that of Raúl Rocha Cantú, owner of the Miss Universe pageant. It all began at this year’s Miss Universe competition, where Mexican contestant Fátima Bosch was crowned. The outrageous treatment Bosch received from Nawat Itsaragrisil, the pageant president in Thailand, drew all the attention to the contest.

In a twist seen as poetic justice, Bosch triumphed. However, a member of the judging panel alleged that Rocha Cantú had exerted pressure to steer votes in favor of the Mexican contestant. That was when the tower of dominoes began to collapse. The press started documenting Rocha Cantú’s mismanagement in other areas, until it was revealed that the businessman had been leading a double life — rubbing shoulders with the international entertainment jet set while trafficking arms and stolen fuel in Mexico.

The chain reaction even contributed to the removal of Attorney General Alejandro Gertz. Reforma revealed that Rocha Cantú was not only involved in a criminal network but had also become a cooperating witness for the Attorney General’s Office, an agreement that granted him immunity in exchange for strategic information. A few days after that late-November report, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum ordered Gertz’s departure, offering him an ambassadorship. According to senior officials, frustration with Gertz had been growing for months, but the agreement with Rocha Cantú ultimately triggered his removal from the Attorney General’s Office. One of the first decisions of the new attorney general, Ernestina Godoy, a close ally of Sheinbaum, was precisely to annul the collaboration agreement signed with Rocha Cantú during Gertz’s tenure.

The ministerial investigation against Rocha Cantú, accessed by this newspaper, accuses the businessman of belonging to an organized crime group engaged in arms trafficking, fuel smuggling, money laundering, and dispossessing homes. According to the case file, Rocha Cantú acted as a sort of financial partner in the criminal network, allegedly funding it with at least five million pesos ($280,000). In addition, he was reportedly in charge of negotiations with gas station owners to distribute huachicol (stolen fuel), which was smuggled primarily from Guatemala and the United States. Rocha Cantú’s illicit operations are linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Unión Tepito gang.

Rocha Cantú’s criminal side overshadowed Bosch’s victory, but more importantly, it called into question the actions of Mexican authorities. The magnate had already been embroiled in controversy years earlier, following the 2011 attack on the Casino Royale, in which more than 50 people died in a fire set by the cartel Los Zetas. Rocha Cantú, the casino owner, evaded justice by fleeing to the United States, claiming he feared for his life. He continued his prosperous business career in the U.S. In January 2024, he purchased half of the Miss Universe shares from the Thai firm JKN Global Group for $16 million. The head of that company, entrepreneur Anne Jakrajutatip, is herself facing fraud accusations in Thailand, which last week ordered the freezing of her accounts. Jakrajutatip is currently a fugitive from justice in her country.

The controversy at the Miss Universe pageant also revealed that Rocha Cantú benefited from multimillion-dollar contracts with Pemex at a time when Fátima Bosch’s father was an adviser at the state oil company. Rocha Cantú went public to respond to all allegations, until, cornered by pressure, he decided to move Miss Universe’s administrative headquarters to New York, citing “legal uncertainty, the current security situation, and unfounded attacks with political motivations that have compromised the institutional framework necessary for long-term operational stability and global projection.”

Rocha Cantú is also no longer in Mexico. A federal court revoked the agreement with the Attorney General’s Office that had provided him protection, requiring him to appear before justice to answer for his alleged links to the criminal network involved in trafficking stolen fuel and weapons. At the same time, one of his main accomplices in the criminal scheme, Jacobo “Yaicob” Reyes León, was captured, tightening the net around the Mexican businessman. Rocha Cantú was recently spotted at a restaurant in Paris. On Christmas Eve, he shared a Miss Universe message on social media urging people to “cherish simple moments, to walk paths of peace, and to share the best of who we are.”

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