The government program intended to support small coffee farmers ended up primarily benefiting Catoex, the company contracted to process Coffee for Well-being.
This firm belongs to a family linked to Javier Duarte de Ochoa, who explains his relationship with these businessmen for this report.
While Catoex earned millions of pesos from this government project, producers were paid less than their production costs.
The company contracted to process Coffee for Well-being, for up to 118.7 million pesos, belongs to a family of businessmen who in 2013 formed Grupo Empresarial Pertenezco with the former governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte de Ochoa—imprisoned since 2017—and dozens of other businessmen. They also have ties to Empacadora La Merced, S.A. C.V., one of the companies linked to the multimillion-dollar embezzlement at Segalmex.
In an interview for this report, Duarte explained that his participation as a founder of this company, along with prominent businesspeople from CĂłrdoba-Orizaba, Veracruz, was with the objective of creating a private hospital; a project that was never carried out.
The former governor denies that his participation in this corporation means he is a current partner of any of the participants. “What they do or don’t do has absolutely nothing to do with me,” he stated in a phone call with this team of journalists.
This investigation explores the links between the imprisoned politician and the members of the company that won the contract to manufacture the Café del Bienestar (Welfare Coffee).
This year, Café Tostado de Exportación, S.A. de C.V. (Catoex) was in charge of soluble coffee for the program and packaging it in 50, 90, and 205-gram presentations. Furthermore, it did not have to compete for the contract. It was awarded directly, after the government invited three companies belonging to Veracruz families with historical ties to each other: Catoex, Cafiver, S.A. de C.V., and Cafés Finos de Córdoba, S.A. de C.V. (Cafinco).
Source: Aristegui Noticias
