Alfonso Durazo: From Narcopolitician to Informant for the United States

This is the story of the first governor to be labeled a 'terrorist'... and, in turn, an informant for a U.S. agency.

PHOENIX, Arizona.— Alfonso Durazo, the current governor of Sonora from the dominant MORENA party, has become the first governor in Mexican history to be declared by the U.S. government as "suspected of terrorism," according to federal agents from the United States who revealed this to Pie de Nota.

But that's not all; in a twist to Durazo's dark history, the governor is hiding something else: in an attempt to save himself from "mandatory detention" in the United States – as indicated by a migration alert in that country – Durazo has become an informant for a federal agency in an investigation into the elite of Mexican narcopolitics for several years.

In a national alert from the U.S. entry and exit systems, Alfonso Durazo Montaño, who began his political career in 1989 as the executive president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is classified as "suspected of terrorism," and his file, along with his photograph and date of birth (July 11, 1954), has a note: "mandatory detention."

This was revealed to Pie de Nota by at least three sources from different U.S. agencies, who also provided a series of images corroborating the information.

However, even with this alert, on Thursday, June 26, Alfonso Durazo proudly announced on his social media his entry into the United States via Phoenix, Arizona, to attend an important bilateral meeting between the governments of Sonora and Arizona, received by that state's governor, Katie Hobbs.

Durazo first uploaded a video from a car announcing his arrival in Phoenix and minutes later an image with several officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP).

The meeting, attended by several officials and journalists, lasted for two days as scheduled, and Durazo returned calmly to his home state to continue announcing projects benefiting Sonora.

But what Durazo was trying to hide was not just the significant revelation of the investigation against him for being "suspected of terrorism," linked to the activities he has carried out for years in favor of the Sinaloa Cartel and his own interests; rather, Durazo is attempting to conceal something else: for at least the past five years, he has been an informant for a federal agency in the United States.

Even before being elected as governor of Sonora, the U.S. government had reportedly begun an investigation against him for using his position in Mexican politics to benefit the Sinaloa Cartel.

"We flipped him; it was either he would provide information or we would put him in jail," revealed a federal agent from the United States in an interview with Pie de Nota.

Since then, Alfonso Durazo has not used his tourist visa to enter the United States. Instead, his name was noted in a file held by a federal agency in the neighboring country, and – as is customary in dealing with confidential informants – the instruction was shared with the Customs and Border Protection agents (CBP).

"In the folder we have, his name is there, alongside many others who are informants, whether they are drug dealers or people who inform us about illegal workers; his name is in the folder that agents consult in secondary (secondary inspection)," said the source.

Durazo must notify his "handler," the person in charge of his case, each time before entering the country to prepare the immigration agents on duty that one of their informants will be entering the country.

In this way, his immigration document is never processed in the CBP system, and instead, Durazo is taken to an adjacent room to verify his status on the informant list and enter the country through a "parole," a temporary permit.

The "parole" is a temporary permit granted to those seeking entry to the United States for humanitarian visa reasons, for a migration exception, or to confidential informants of a federal agency in the United States.

"What the agency seeks is for him to provide information on more corrupt politicians or those connected to drug trafficking in Mexico... and the benefits are given depending on the information he provides," emphasized the source in the U.S. federal government.

Since 1989, Alfonso Durazo has served the Mexican political elite, from his time as Personal Secretary to Luis Donaldo Colosio when he was President of the National Executive Committee of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Secretary of Social Development from 1992 to 1993, or when Colosio became a candidate for the Presidency from 1993 to 1994.

Between 2000 and 2004, Durazo resigned from the PRI and joined the team of former Mexican President Vicente Fox from the National Action Party (PAN) as his personal secretary.

In 2006, he joined the team of Andrés Manuel López Obrador for MORENA, and in 2012 he served as coordinator of the Progressive Movement coalition in the state of Sonora.

From 2015 to 2018, he led the State Executive Committee of Morena in Sonora, and after his term, he served as Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, a position currently held by Omar García Harfuch. In 2021, he was elected as governor of the same state from the same party.