Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, October 17, 2026 – A recent investigation alleges that Nayarit officials pressured owners and notaries to transfer valuable coastal properties to a state trust.
The allegations center on Bahía de Banderas and Compostela, where witnesses cited by Reforma accuse prosecutors, judges, and state officials of facilitating the transfers. The report identifies 10 notaries facing accusations involving transactions across about 1,000 hectares of the Riviera Nayarit and says four have been jailed.
For residents who own property or are considering buying north of Puerto Vallarta, the central question is how authorities distinguish land legitimately recovered for the public from property surrendered under pressure. The named cases show why that question requires examining individual transactions and court decisions.
The institution at the center of the dispute is the Fideicomiso Bahía de Banderas, or FIBBA, which describes its responsibilities as tourism development, urban planning, and management of Nayarit’s public assets.
The state government maintains that its recovery campaign addresses irregular dealings involving that public patrimony. Vallarta Daily reported on the Mega Operativo Nuevo Nayarit in September 2022, when officials said they were investigating property transactions in Bahía de Banderas and Compostela dating from the administration’s arrival in September 2021.
Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro defended the campaign at a news conference on October 6.
“Few complain, but many were suffering,” he said, translated from Spanish, according to Meridiano’s account of the exchange. The governor also backed his legal adviser, Gabriel Camarena Morales. Those remarks preceded Saturday’s report; the material reviewed for this article found no public response specifically addressing the new Reforma allegations.
One case involves Luis Miguel Reyes Lamas, notary No. 39 in Bahía de Banderas. Reforma reports that he was jailed on December 27, 2025, after certifying a February 2025 property transfer, and was later pressured to surrender his notarial position in exchange for release.
His defense says he relied on information from state authorities and disputes that he should be held criminally responsible for inconsistencies in official registry systems.
Prosecutors allege document and certification falsification, offenses involving property registration, and money laundering. Those charges remain allegations.
Reforma also names Jesús Torís Lora, notary No. 18 in Tepic, detained December 31, 2025. Prosecutors accuse him of document and certification forgery, fraudulent administration, and other offenses affecting FIBBA.
The court history adds a distinction that can easily disappear in a case summary. Torís Lora obtained an amparo, a federal constitutional remedy, in June. But Relatos Nayarit’s reporting on that judgment explains that it concerned the trial judge’s inadequate examination of whether prosecution deadlines had expired.
That ruling required a fresh analysis once final. It did not itself order his release, because preventive detention was being challenged separately. Relatos subsequently reported that both prosecutors and the defense sought review of the June judgment.
A related dispute in Rincón de Guayabitos provides a recent example of a court examining the basis for a property prosecution.
The case concerns almost 10 hectares claimed by FIBBA and occupied by members of the Guzmán Franco family. Authorities detained four people during an April 17 operation. The family alleges they were removed without officers presenting a judicial order; state prosecutors maintained that the land belonged to FIBBA and alleged threats and aggression during an inspection.
On October 6, federal Judge Hernán Darío Saldaña Brambila granted an amparo directing that the order allowing criminal proceedings against the four to continue be set aside.
The court recognized FIBBA’s underlying title, found that family members held possession, and noted that prosecutors had not shown their occupation was unlawful. The outlet reported that the judgment could be appealed and would need to be final before compliance.
That distinction limits the conclusions readers can draw about other properties along the coast. A finding about criminal liability, a claim to possession and a dispute over title address different questions. The cases reviewed here do not establish that Riviera Nayarit property titles generally are invalid, or that every government recovery was lawful.
For the Guayabitos defendants, the dispute has already carried a substantial personal cost. Their defense told Tribuna that the four spent approximately three months in prison and secured their release through financial guarantees totaling more than 500,000 pesos before the October ruling.
