Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s business conglomerate must cover more than 48 billion pesos in back taxes, following the ruling of the new Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN)the first elected at the polls after the judicial reform, which ruled against the litigation and protections promoted by Grupo Salinas.
The businessman has maintained on social networks and public events that these decisions represent an attack by the State against him, the product of an alleged political and ideological persecution of those who “tell the truth” about the governments of the self-proclaimed Fourth Transformation. Since March, he warned that “they are not only coming for me; once I allow them to win and keep quiet, they are going to go for you and for everything that makes you uncomfortable and denounces the abuse of the government.”
The conflict between Grupo Salinas and the federal government is not recent. Since the beginning of the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the businessman has shown his disagreement with the Executive and with the actions of Morena at the federal and state levels.
On September 24, Grupo Salinas announced that it was analyzing legal actions against President Claudia Sheinbaum for alleged crimes of defamation and moral damage, both in Mexican and American courts, accusing that an “authoritarian onslaught” and political persecution were carried out from the presidential rostrum. The company assured that “lying costs and has consequences, even more so when it comes to a public official,” and announced that it was considering filing lawsuits in Mexico and the United States.
The next day, Salinas Pliego proposed to the President a “negotiation table” to agree on the payment of taxes for his companies, emphasizing that he would limit himself to covering what is required by law and seeking to generate confidence to maintain national and foreign investments. He also criticized that the current administration spent “a lot” of time slandering him instead of focusing on the results for which they were elected.
The proposal was rejected by Sheinbaum, who considered that “sitting at a table to negotiate taxes is from another era.” Félix Arturo Medina Padilla, Undersecretary of Human Rights and former head of the SAT, denied that the previous government had reached any agreement on debts from 2008 to 2013. The President reiterated that the payments must be fulfilled and that no negotiation is required, highlighting that this is a legal and fiscal issue, not a political one.
On November 11, the Financial Intelligence Unit blocked the Ganador Azteca and Operadora Ganador TV Azteca casinos, for alleged money laundering through intensive use of cash, international transfers and digital platforms. Grupo Salinas described the actions as a “factious use of the State apparatus” and reaffirmed that it will continue to defend its rights with the law and ethical and legal reason on its side.
After the failure of the SCJN On November 13, the company considered the decision a “black day for justice and the rule of law,” accusing that the Court acted “without any legal analysis, by order and mandate of the Federal Government.”
Sheinbaum responded that every decision is made in accordance with the law and ruled out “fiscal terrorism,” emphasizing that if Salinas Pliego pays his debt, “the matter is resolved there”; Otherwise, the corresponding legal procedures will apply. At the launch of the Water for Campeche project, he recognized the work of the SCJN, stating that with this type of rulings the Supreme Court “complies with the laws and the Constitution.”
Extortion brings businessmen to their knees: Coparmex
LExtortion has reached levels that put the private sector in Mexico in checkwarned Juan José Sierra Álvarez, president of the Employers’ Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex). During the Coparmex National Meeting in Tijuana, Baja California, he noted that The absence of the State has generated spaces that “should never have been lost” and that today allow criminals to determine who works, who invests and who abandons their businesses..
Sierra Álvarez affirmed that extortion stopped being a marginal crime and became a structure of economic and political control that affects multiple territories and sectors. “Extortion destroys jobs, empties communities, distorts markets and causes silent and forced migration,” he said.
From January to November 2025, 8,585 victims of extortion were registered, an increase of 5.2%, mainly in border areas, although it acknowledged that the real number is higher due to unreported cases for fear of reprisals.
The business leader called on all levels of government and powers of the State to implement urgent and effective measures against this crime. He requested that the federal government lead a national strategy, that congresses and local authorities harmonize legislation and allocate resources, and that state and municipal governments strengthen their police forces.
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