BAJA CALIFORNIA — A slow-drip series of leaked audio recordings has plunged Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda into the most serious political crisis of her career — and Mexico along with it — with each new release suggesting deeper and more specific contact between the governor and U.S. federal agents than she has publicly acknowledged.
How the Scandal Started
The story traces back to May 2025, when the U.S. government revoked the tourist visas of Ávila and her then-husband, Carlos Torres Torres, a former federal deputy who held a special-projects post in her state administration.
At the time, Ávila characterized the revocation as “an administrative decision, not an accusation,” and denied any wrongdoing.
The scandal itself became public more than a year later, on June 21, 2026, when columnist Héctor de Mauleón published the first leaked recording in the newspaper El Universal.