Puerto Vallarta, one of the most visited resorts in Mexico, has become a strategic point for the operations of the Jalisco Cartel, according to the US government.
Proof that the area is under surveillance by CJNG hitmen was the kidnapping of four tourists in July 2020. They arrived in a caravan of 14 people in SUVs and ATVs from Guanajuato. Everything indicates that they were confused with members of a rival group, blocked their way, and shot at them as they fled in their cars and on foot. A businessman from León died from that attack.
The Treasury Department points out that most new establishments that open in that location have to ask the cartel for authorization and agree to give it a part of their profits. It is what is known as a “floor charge,” meaning every tourist and foreigner spending money in Puerto Vallarta is funding drug cartel, the continued violence in Mexico, and the export of deadly drugs to Canada and the United States.
In charge of this criminal activity is Sergio Armando Orozco Rodríguez, alias ‘Chocho’, according to the accusation. “This individual acts for or on behalf of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) by facilitating various illegal activities in Puerto Vallarta,” describes the Treasury Department.
Orozco Rodríguez is associated with several nightclubs, bars, and restaurants in that city. One of his functions is to collect ‘taxes’ from such establishments.
“Many new companies there must receive unofficial permission from Orozco Rodríguez to open,” the US government alleges. “Once open, Orozco Rodríguez collects taxes from these businesses on behalf of the CJNG,” he adds.
This man would also be in charge of laundering the profits that the cartel obtains from the sale of drugs.
In Puerto Vallarta, a relevant event occurred in the recent history of Mexican drug trafficking: the kidnapping in 2016 at the restaurant ‘La Leche’ of two sons of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, when he continued to control a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel from a prison in the center of Mexico.
Guzmán’s heirs were later released. One version indicates that “El Mencho” somehow negotiated with “El Chapo” to let his children go.
At the time, armed men abducted 10 to 12 presumed members of a crime gang who appeared to be celebrating at the upscale restaurant in Puerto Vallarta.
Jalisco state prosecutor Eduardo Almaguer said, “They were not tourists or residents who work in legal activities,” Almaguer said. “They were people tied to a criminal group we can very clearly presume.”
Almaguer said two SUVs carrying five gunmen arrived around 1 a.m. at La Leche restaurant on the city’s main boulevard, which runs through the hotel zone between the old beach city and the airport.
Witnesses reported that four women in the targeted group were not taken by the gunmen, he said. He said authorities were looking for those women.
All of those abducted were from the western states of Sinaloa, Nayarit, and Jalisco, Almaguer said.
He said some of those abducted had been vacationing in Puerto Vallarta for a week and authorities found lots of drinks and luxury items inside the restaurant. Five vehicles were abandoned at the restaurant, among them one with Jalisco license plates, but a false registration.
“Obviously, those who acted (the kidnappers) – we presume with the information we have – also belonged to a criminal group that acted against members of another criminal group they located here in Puerto Vallarta,” Almaguer said.
Puerto Vallarta, one of the most visited resorts in Mexico, has become a strategic point for the operations of the Jalisco Cartel, according to . . .
