The government of Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum allocated part of the 1.6 billion pesos disbursed over four months to various consortiums
14ymedio, Mexico City, February 16, 2026– New data fuels the controversy in Mexico over the importation of Cuban doctors. This time, the data pertains to companies contracted to provide lodging, food, and transportation for the Cuban medical personnel in 12 states governed by Morena, the ruling party.
According to a report published in the weekly magazine Proceso, the Kol-Tov companies, in partnership with Productos Serel, and Perlop Operadora de Alimentos, which have been “investigated for irregularities,” received preferential treatment from the government of Claudia Sheinbaum. Some of these companies, the investigation states, “benefited from direct awards.” In total, Mexico paid part of the 1.6 billion pesos (US$93,234,765) disbursed over four months to these consortiums to cover external services for specialists on the island.
According to information obtained by 14ymedio on the Compras MX website, between September 1 and December 31, 2025, the companies Kol-Tov and Productos Serel received 179,274,480 pesos (10,445,877 dollars) as payment for food services to Cuban specialists — without specifying how many — in the State of Mexico and Mexico City.
The amounts do not include the salaries of the Cuban doctors, which are 50,000 pesos (US$2,732 per month). Those sent to remote and hard-to-reach areas receive a bonus of 10,000 pesos (US$545), bringing the monthly total to US$3,277. This money is managed by Neuronic Mexicana, which is a subsidiary of Neuronic SA Cuba. Since 2018, this company has represented the products and services of the island’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry and is headed by Cuban national Tania Guerra.
The Kol-Tov and Productos Serel companies received $10,445,877 as payment for food services to Cuban specialists.
La Opinión de México reported last May that the Landsmanas family, as well as subsidiaries and partners of the company Kol Tov, “have benefited from contracts awarded through favoritism .” Between 2024 and 2025, 4,392,884,951 pesos (US$255,982,866) were deposited into the coffers of the company led by Jack Landsmanas Stern.
The same media outlet reported that the company is part of the Kosmos corporation, which is also linked to the embezzlement of funds from Mexican Food Security (Segalmex). In 2021, under the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), the agency awarded 797,000,000 pesos (US$39,299,802 at the exchange rate at the time) to a network of shell companies that failed to deliver supplies such as pesticides, sacks, and tarpaulins intended to protect and store grains like corn and beans.
During the administration of the so-called 4T, Kol-Tov, with tax addresses in both Mexico City and Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, has also benefited from the awarding of contracts with Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the Federal Protection Secretariat, and the now-defunct Federal Police.
The leak of documents through Pandora Papers revealed in October 2021 that Corporativo Kosmos owned the subsidiaries La Cosmopolitana, Serel and Kol Tov.
The Pandora Papers leak in October 2021 revealed that Corporativo Kosmos owned the subsidiaries La Cosmopolitana, Serel, and Kol Tov. The food supplier to hospitals, businesses, daycare centers, prisons, Pemex platforms, and toritos (detention centers for Administrative Sanctions and Social Integration) in 27 states “grew uncontrollably under the protection of political power,” with more than 5 billion pesos (US$144,759,698 at the exchange rate at the time) in contracts with the government of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), not including Pemex.
Data published by Mexicans Against Corruption revealed that in October 2014, as a result of the split of Kosmiko [one of the multiple business arms of Kosmos] four new companies were formed: RX Health, of which Fernández is a founding partner; Productos Serel, La Cosmopolitana and Fármacos Darovi SA de CV.
Perlop Operadora was awarded the contract to provide food services for Cuban specialists in the states of Guerrero, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Yucatán. This generated profits of 1,217,150,500 pesos (US$70,927,112).
According to ‘Proceso’, “the minimum total number of doctors mentioned is 1,309 and the maximum total is 2,609. In that calculation, the states where the most were displaced were Guerrero and Veracruz, with 449 health specialists; while the state that would receive the least would be Yucatán, with 18.”
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