Sinaloa governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel took more than 1,400 flights in three years, and he was always accompanied by people whose names were not recorded. Sometimes his wife was flown between events, other times they were used for the governor to attend private functions.

By: Marcos Viscarra, Revista ESPEJO, originally published July 7, 2021

Translated by Dawn Marie Paley.

The airplanes and helicopters that belong to the government of Sinaloa have flown nearly every day since 2017, but the Secretary of Public Safety (SSP) only keeps a flight log when they are used by governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel and his anonymous guests.

In total, between 2017 and 2019, the governor of Sinaloa took 1,463 different flights. Of those, on at least 26 occasions he used two or three aircraft simultaneously to come and go to the locations where he had public events.

The flight logs show the governor taking two flights at the same time, as he and his guests were registered as the main passenger on two airplanes.

Other records show that he has done very similar trips in two airplanes at the same time, with a private work agenda.

There are flights in which the airplanes come and go just like a commercial flight. For example, there are days that there are up to four flights from México City to Culiacán and Mazatlán in the same day, justified by the governor’s private events.

ESPEJO Magazine was able to trace these flights with flight logs from five airplanes that were provided by the SSP, as well as the governor’s public agenda, which was provided following access to information requests, and the revision of documents received from the State Commission for Access to Information (CEAIP).

Official press statements from the state government of Sinaloa and the federal government were also reviewed.

This information indicated that it isn’t just the governor using the planes, but also his wife Rosa Isela Fuentes, the president of the board of the Family Development Institute (DIF) in Sinaloa. Her name isn’t in the registers, but the flights match with her travel patterns. 

Our findings are all related to flights taken between January 2017 and December 2019.

Before this story was published, we sent a questionnaire to the Transparency and Accountability Secretariat, designed by Governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel, but there was no reply.

Simultaneous trips in different airplanes

On February 22, 2017, there was an important event for the government of Sinaloa: the director of the IMSS, who at that time was Mikel Arreola, announced millions of dollars of assistance for the state.

It was such an important event that there was a public launch and dozens of federal and local bureaucrats were involved. It was one of the first major announcements made by Quirino Ordaz Coppel, who had only been governor of Sinaloa for two months.

To travel the participants all kinds of aircraft were used, including a Turbo Commander airplane and an Augusta helicopter.

The flight registries established a pattern that would be repeated in the future: the documents provided by the SSP noted the governor was the main passenger in different flights simultaneously, as in the flights from Culiacán to Angostura and back.

These types of simultaneous trips took place at least 24 times between 2017 and 2019.

The government of Sinaloa provided this information without indicating what the specific activities that were carried out were.

This information was later corroborated with the governor’s agenda, in which we found similarities, for example, the governor announced he would attend confidential trips or work meetings at least 285 times.

Among these work trips and flights marked as private, at least 140 corresponded to flights to Mexico City.

All of those trips were taken on the Falcon aircraft.

On most of the trips the main passenger was governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel, but he was always accompanied by someone, though the SSP did not record the names of other passengers.

The flight logs handed over by the government of Sinaloa were obtained through Freedom of Information requests. Upon revision, we noticed the name and occupation of the guests on the planes were not described, which is why we sought the right to review further documents from the State Commission for Access to Information.

They granted the request that all of the registers be provided, but again the SSP refused.

In the documents it was noted that there was a tour to Mazatlán on November 23 and 24, 2017, in the flight logs two aircraft were recorded as going: the Falcon airplane and the Augusta helicopter. Regardless, it was Ms. Rosa Isela Fuentes who travelled.

According to Article 28 of the State Austerity Law, only the governor or government workers can use the aircraft belonging to the government of Sinaloa. Ms. Fuentes isn’t a government worker, as her position within the administration is honorary.

But that regulation hasn’t meant much. Even though she is not an employee of the state government, Ms. Fuentes continued to use the airplanes without registering her name in the flight logs.

On August 7, 2018, there was a similar flight. On the logs it was noted that the governor had a public event in Los Mochis, Ahome, using two aircraft simultaneously: the Turbo Commander and the Falcon. Regardless, the trip was actually taken by Rosa Isela Fuentes, who traveled to the inauguration of a daycare run by the Walbro corporation.

On June 16, 2019, the flight logs showed the governor flying back from Mexico City to an event in Los Mochis. But that didn’t happen, rather, it was Rosa Isela Fuentes who was flying back to Los Mochis as the governor was inaugurating another public work in Guamúchil, Salvador Alvarado.

Not having access to enough information from the flight logs has resulted in some difficulty in understanding the costs associated with their use.

Between 2017 and 2019, there were 1,463 different flights taken by the governor, according to the documents.

But it remains unknown how much was spent on fuel and the names of the passengers, basic information that according to the Civil Aviation Law should be part of the information that is provided for each trip.

What information should be included in a flight log?

• Nationality and complete license information for each aircraft
• Aircraft Model
• Date
• Name of the firm or operator of each flight
• Flight number
• Complete name of each crew member
• Position and rank of each cres member
• Departure city
• Arrival city
• Departure time
• Arrival time
• Flight time
• Flight number and nature of trip (international, national, carrying passengers, specialized services, training, among others)
• Signature of the pilot in charge of the aircraft
• Fuelling information or fuel level on board
• Registry stating parameters related to special operations
• Reports about irregularities in the operations which are not traceable to system of component failures
• Reports on failures
• Maintenance work
• Name, signature and licence number of the aircraft maintenance technician and date when maintenance is carried out, and who approves maintenance before each flight.

Source: Civil Aviation Law.

To date the amount of money spent on fuel, repairs and aircraft parts is unknown. These expenses are not documented in the Sinaloa’s government budget

What we can see is that there are flights taken by other members of the government, like by Gonzalo Gómez Flores, General Secretary of the government.

On January 18, 2018, a flight was registered by a Falcon airplane to México City by the General Secretary of the government of Sinaloa together with four passengers. That same day, the plane returned, but without the government worker. Only the four unnamed passengers flew back.

These flight logs have been reviewed by Sinaloa’s state congress, which asked the State Auditor to carry out a specific audit relating to the lack of transparency in the logs.

“Among the observations, it was noted that the information that was shared by the state government lacks the signature of he who elaborated and authorizes the logs, the flight hours are omitted, there is no departure time or time recorded when the aircraft is back in the official hangar. The information provided from Congress lacks the authorization code for the flight, and there are notes stating the aircraft are used for the Government’s work agenda, but no further details are provided.”

-Congressional press release.

“Nor was congress informed which passengers used the aircraft. Only the number of passengers is included, nor is there a column in which total miles travelled included.”

ESPEJO Magazine had access to the congressional analysis on the use of the aircraft, which points out nine specific irregularities

Observations from the Congress of Sinaloa:

• The signature of the person who writes and authorizes the flight logs is missing
• The flight hours are omitted.
•  Lacks departure and time of arrival at official hangar
• Does not include the authorization number for the flight.
• In the “Issues” section, these descriptions are not clear or objective:
  • a) Government work agenda
  • b) Maintenance service.
  • c) Maintenance flight.
  • d) Maintenance flight and government work agenda.
• In the “passengers” column, only the number of passengers is shown, not their names
• There should be a separate log for each aircraft.
• There should be an “observations” column that allows for the registry of adjustments in each flight leg, ie: Los Mochis-Navojoa / Navojoa-Culiacán.
• There is no column to register total miles travelled.

The state congress sought a specific audit, in order to learn when the payments for aircraft maintenance were made. They are also seeking to understand why there is a lack of information about who is using the aircraft.

When asked by ESPEJO about the governor’s simultaneous flight registries, the Accountability Commission replied that that should also be part of the Audit, given that the flight logs are the same that were given via access to information to ESPEJO Magazine.

We also asked the government of Sinaloa for comment on the observations of the local congress, as well as on the findings of our investigation. As this story was published, there was still no response.

This report was originally published by Revista ESPEJO, which is part of the Media Alliance organized by Periodistas de a Pie. You can read the original here.