Violeta Verónica Sánchez Chávez, who was married for 31 years to Vice Admiral René Alberto Canto Oliva, former commander of the Sixteenth Naval Zone, stated that she is seeking protection for herself and her family due to alleged threats related to individuals mentioned in investigations into fiscal huachicol at the Secretariat of the Navy. During an interview with Aristegui en Vivo, she said she decided to share her story for security reasons and asked for President Sheinbaum's support to protect her family. Sánchez recounted that for years, she participated in volunteer activities with the Navy, collaborating with the wife of the former Secretary of the Navy, Admiral Rafael Ojeda, with whom she once discussed pending promotions at the request of her husband. “She told me they would only promote those who were three years behind, and I told her I knew that wasn't true because another person had already been promoted,” she recounted. From that moment on, she added, she decided not to continue the relationship, considering her life was in danger. After another violent incident in Cancún, where she met with Canto Oliva to discuss her daughter's tuition fees, she filed a complaint with the Quintana Roo Prosecutor's Office, where she obtained protective measures, although she noted that the institutional response was slow. She stated that she has filed complaints with various bodies, including the Navy's internal control and inspection unit, as well as letters to then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and President Claudia Sheinbaum. In this context, she stated that she was monitored and spied on during the relationship, as she said her husband abused her physically and emotionally for phone or in-person conversations she had with her friends. According to her account, a year passed without any surveillance until she approached human rights institutions. Chávez explained that the last aggression she reported occurred in May 2024, while they were still married. She believes she has requested a new hearing without receiving a response, which she sees as “institutional violence” in her case, towards both her and her daughter. Violeta Sánchez also recounted a series of incidents that, she said, have happened to her and have led her to believe her family could be at risk. She claimed that she discussed some of these situations with the wife of the former Secretary of the Navy. Among them, she mentioned an episode that occurred while she was driving with one of her daughters, when, according to her testimony, an official Navy truck performed a maneuver that forced her to brake suddenly. She assured that the most recent incident occurred after she decided to share her story with Aristegui Noticias: “When I sent messages, an ear and a pig's snout appeared near the entrance of where I live,” she stated. She also recounted that on another occasion, she received a late-night phone call after going out for one of her sons. These incidents have increased her concern for her family's safety. “I know my family is at risk,” she stated, explaining that she fears the possible repercussions of the situations she has decided to make public. Sánchez stated that some of the people mentioned in her statements knew of her existence and knew that she could have had knowledge of certain facts due to her closeness to her then-husband. She explained that the court set a percentage equal to hers, but “they only give her half.” She claimed to have spoken with the current head of the Secretariat of the Navy, Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, about the pension issue. She recalled that at the time, her husband was working in the Navy's Special Operations Unit and that, from her perspective, he may have used institutional resources to monitor her. “This is not a couple's conflict, not a conflict between individuals, it is a person using the means the State has to listen to or control a civilian,” she expressed. She described various episodes of physical aggression, including one in March 2022 that, she said, marked a turning point in the relationship. “He attended to me for five minutes […] I spoke with him about what had been deposited into my account and he sent me to the paymaster, who explained to me how they had broken down what they had given me,” she stated. She claimed to have informed the then-Secretary of the Navy, Rafael Ojeda, and his wife of the facts during a visit to her home, where she also spoke of the alleged threat from Solano Ruiz that her ex-husband had conveyed to her. When questioned about the response she received, she noted she does not precisely remember his words, but does remember his reaction. “I don't remember the words he might have said, but I do remember that he got angry,” she stated. She added that in August 2024, before leaving office, she spoke with Ojeda again to tell him she was being watched by her ex-husband. She narrated a series of incidents that she assured occurred throughout her marriage. She also mentioned that her daughter filed a lawsuit to receive child support and that the judicial process took a year to grant her a provisional pension at the Eighth Family Court in Mexico City. Even so, she claimed the amount delivered does not correspond to what was ordered by the court. According to her explanation, after seeing a name on her husband's phone of someone who was sending him messages, an aggression occurred. “This man tried to strangle me in my house because I saw a phone number,” she maintained. “They know how to hit without leaving marks, because that's what they teach at the naval school,” she stated. “That man they call 'Mike' (Solano Ruiz), I know he is the one who was in contact with the father of my children,” she pointed out, and added that those in that environment “knew that I could know some things because I was there.” After that incident, she obtained protective measures, which she said allowed her to stay away from her then-husband. When asked who had been promoted, she said she provided the name. Following this conversation, she recounted that in October 2021, her then-husband communicated a message to her that, she said, came from retired Captain Miguel Ángel Solano, known as 'Mike' or 'El Sol,' who is a fugitive and is accused of participating in an alleged fiscal huachicol network with the supposed participation of businessmen, sailors, and customs officials. A case in which Vice Admiral Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna—currently detained— and his brother, Rear Admiral Fernando Farías—a fugitive— are accused, who are sons-in-law of the former Secretary of the Navy, José Rafael Ojeda Durán. According to her testimony, her ex-husband conveyed a warning to her: “One of the Farías said that if I didn't stop talking to the secretary's wife, they were going to get rid of me.” She mentioned that one of the names appearing in the fiscal huachicol investigations, Captain Federico Castro Domínguez, worked with her then-husband when he was commander of the Navy's Special Operations Unit, and during that period, she overheard phone conversations between them about promotion aspirations within the institution. Sánchez also affirmed that she suffered violence during her marriage and said the situation worsened after the mentioned threats. Subsequently, he initiated the divorce process in April of that same year. She indicated that the divorce resulted in a child support pension that, she said, is considerably less than the income she had during the marriage.
