Hernández Casillas brothers electoral supplier network, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico): The Government of Mexico presented an investigation into an alleged network of electoral suppliers linked to brothers José Alfredo and Raymundo Francisco Hernández Casillas. President Claudia Sheinbaum said the business group grew stronger after the 2014 electoral reform, during the tenure of Lorenzo Córdova at the National Electoral Institute (INE).
The reform gave the INE General Council the power to appoint the councilors of the State Electoral Public Bodies (OPLE). During her morning press conference on Thursday, Sheinbaum questioned the business and political relationships of the suppliers and their continued presence across several administrations.
Sheinbaum said the companies linked to the Hernández Casillas brothers increased their contracts while Córdova led the INE. She also questioned who issues contracting guidelines and why electoral contracts have repeatedly gone to the same individuals since 1989.
Secretary of Anticorruption and Good Government Raquel Buenrostro Sánchez presented an investigation based on open sources into the group’s business background and contracts. Between 2015 and 2023, companies linked to the brothers received contracts worth 2,094 million pesos from 23 of the 32 OPLE.
In 2024 and 2025, the same network obtained another 646.3 million pesos from 15 local electoral bodies, bringing the total identified by the federal government to 2,740.3 million pesos between 2015 and 2025.
Buenrostro said the brothers worked at the National Population and Personal Identification Registry (Renapo) between 1983 and 1988 and later joined the National Center for Investigation and National Security (CISEN). Cartonera Plástica began participating as an electoral supplier in the State of Mexico in 1999, and in 2005 obtained a contract for 63.7 million pesos from the State of Mexico Electoral Institute.
Buenrostro also outlined the background of Juan Carlos Padilla Aguilar, who now participates in the Somos México organization alongside former electoral officials, including Marco Antonio Baños, Edmundo Jacobo Molina and Lorenzo Córdova. The presence of former officials and businesspeople in the same political organization does not by itself demonstrate crimes or irregularities in the contracts.
The investigation follows the October 26 resignation of INE president Guadalupe Taddei. The Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) is expected to review the operations and identify possible irregularities that may warrant sanctions or complaints before the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
Authorities will determine whether administrative or criminal liability exists.
Sheinbaum also announced that next week she will present a decree to modify the governing board of Talleres Gráficos de México, adding federal agencies, academic institutions and the ASF as an observer. Buenrostro said her agency is also reviewing mechanisms to prevent possible collusion schemes in federal public administration purchases.
