A Mexican Army colonel who was missing for several days after being taken by gunmen has reportedly been staying in a resort area with a history of being used by Cartel Jalisco for money laundering.
Mexican Army Colonel Jose Isidro Grimaldo went missing as he was driving from Jalisco to Zacatecas. Grimaldo was leading a military operation in the border city of Nuevo Laredo prior to his disappearance. Initial reports indicated the officer was killed and his body left on the side of a road. However officials have since walked back those claims.
Recent explanations made by Mexico’s military establishment revealed that Grimaldo was vacationing in the resort town of Tapalpa. That town, in addition to the nearby tourist hubs of Puerto Vallarta and Mazamitla, have long histories of being used by Mexico’s Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) for laundering money, Union Jalisco revealed.
In 2015, the U.S. Department of Treasury listed Las Flores Cabins in Tapalpa and other businesses in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara as being used by CJNG for money laundering purposes. Union Jalisco quotes U.S. court documents stating that in 2013, CJNG supreme leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes and his daughter Johanna “La Negra” Oseguera Gonzalez were spotted at the cabin resort. The documents quote a witness to a meeting where El Mencho left the cabins to his daughter to operate them for laundering uses.
The business remains open in Mexico despite being listed by U.S. authorities as part of the Kingpin designation list. To this day, Jalisco continues to be one of the top global tourist destinations with resorts, restaurants, and bars being used as laundering fronts.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “C.P. Mireles” from Tamaulipas.