"El c rtel negro es el trabajo m s amplio, mejor documentado y m s descarnado acerca de la grave incursi n de la delincuencia organizada en Pemex. Ana Lilia P rez, una periodista fuerte, incisiva y acuciosa, presenta en este libro la que probablemente sea su m s acabada y potente investigaci n period stica." -Carmen Aristegui

Durante los gobiernos de Vicente Fox Quesada y Felipe Calder n Hinojosa, se desarrolla el "c rtel negro", un conglomerado de funcionarios, trabajadores, empresarios, contratistas, inspectores, contralores, agentes aduanales, dirigentes y miembros del sindicato petrolero, pol ticos, orde adores, tapineros, huachicoleros, extorsionadores, defraudadores, contrabandistas y lavadores de dinero que, alineados con los traficantes de droga, se consolidan como una organizaci n empresarial paralela a Pemex, al grado de competirle en el mercado nacional e internacional de los combustibles.

En estas p ginas se documentan escrupulosamente las acciones del crimen organizado en la industria petrolera de M xico: la creaci n de compa as fachada, los contratos simulados, la orde a de pozos y ductos, as como el saqueo en las reas con mayor blindaje.

Es un trabajo period stico decisivo que se ha construido a partir de informes confidenciales, bit coras del rea de seguridad de Pemex, auditor as de la Secretar a de la Funci n P blica, testimonios de testigos protegidos y, sobre todo, de expedientes reservados en t rminos de seguridad nacional que la autora logr desclasificar tras una larga batalla. As se devela c mo la empresa petrolera qued de rodillas ante la mafia. El c rtel negro es una ventana al fangoso inframundo en el que se convirti a Pemex, producto de muchos a os de saqueo, corrupci n e impunidad.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

This invaluable investigation has been the starting point for Governor L pez Obrador's strategy against huachicoleo, or gasoline theft.

The Black Cartel is the broadest, best-documented, and starkest work about the serious foray of organized crime in Pemex. In this book, Ana Lilia P rez, a strong, insightful, and diligent journalist, presents what may be her most powerful, complete investigation. During the terms of Vicente Fox Quesada and Felipe Calder n Hinojosa, the "cartel negro" was formed: a conglomerate of government workers, businesspeople, contractors, inspectors, auditors, customs agents, managers and members of the oil syndicates, politicians, bottomfeeders, gas thieves, extortionists, swindlers, smugglers, and money launderers who, aligned with the drug dealers, have consolidated as a business organization in parallel to Pemex, to the point of competing in the national and international oil market.

In these pages, the organized crime of the Mexican oil industry is scrupulously documented: the creation of shell companies, simulated contracts, and the looting of even the most well-protected areas.

It is a decisive journalistic work that has been constructed based on confidential information, security logs from Pemex, audits of government agencies, testimonies of protected witnesses, and above all, of secret documents that the author managed to get declassified after a long battle. In this way, she reveals how the oil industry was helpless against the mafia. The Black Cartel is a window into the thorny underworld that is Pemex: a product of many years of looting, corruption, and impunity.