Leones' Season to Begin Despite Financial Questions

Juan Jose and Erick Arellano Hernandez

JUAN JOSE AND ERICK ARELLANO HERNANDEZ UNDER SUSPICION

The financial troubles of brothers Juan Jose and Erick Arellano Hernandez do not appear to have had an impact on either the Leones de Yucatan or the Vaqueros Union Laguna as the two teams owned by the brothers prepare for the 2017 season of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol.

Grupo ArHe, owned and operated by the brothers purchased the Leones in 2014 and a controlling interest in the Vaqueros following the 2016 season.

Grupo ArHe had their assets frozen in 2015 and then again in March of 2016 by the Commission National Banking and Securities (CNBV) at the request of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) on suspicion of money laundering.

Although the FIU has reportedly not discovered any link to money laundering by the Hernandez brothers or Grupo ArHe, there has been no indication that funds have been in frozen.

Grupo ArHe is a very large entity, based in Mazatlán and run by the Hernandez brothers, has a wide range of business divisions. Their consulting division, UPC has 6 offices in Mexico and an office in San Diego, California. The financial sector is home to CL Capital. In sports, The Grupo owns the Leones and the Vaqueros of the LMB.

The group's automotive branch owns Alamo Car Rental in Mexico (thus the Parque Kukulcan - Alamo). Another Grupo ArHe is Grupo Immobiliario Arellano the real estate and construction arm of the company. They also own 5 Pemex gas stations with the "Hit" brand of convenience stores.

In other news related to the LMB, the league has announced that drug testing of ball players before, during and after the 2017 season will be  conducted by the Havana Anti Doping Laboratory in Havana, Cuba.

Havana Anti Doping Laboraty

Previously, testing was conducted by CONADE, the Comision Nacional de Cultura Fisica y Deporte here in Mexico. The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) suspended the laboratory in November of 2016 for its mishandling and false positive reading on a sample by Olympian Paola Pliego that caused him to miss the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

The LMB had this to say about the new facility in Cuba. "The Havana Anti Doping Laboratory has high resolution, double quadruple equipment as well as isotope ratios (IRMS) for sample testing" They further stated "We have the utmost confidence in our new testing agency"

5 LMP players were given suspensions following the 2106 season for drug use including Albino Contreras of the Leones who was given a 100 game suspension for a second violation of the rules.