The recent designation of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in Riviera Nayarit highlights its role as a center of a business network that has been sanctioned by the United States. According to the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), five individuals and 17 companies linked to the CJNG in Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta were named in this sanction, underlining the cartel's significant financial entrenchment in the region’s tourism and real estate sectors. This development not only marks a critical blow against CJNG’s operations but also exposes the cartel's methods of integrating itself into legitimate businesses to facilitate illegal activities.

In conjunction with the U.S. measures, Mexico’s Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit, through its Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), identified seven individuals to be added to the Blocked Persons List and filed complaints with the Attorney General’s Office regarding operations involving illicit proceeds. This indicates a coordinated effort between U.S. and Mexican authorities to combat the financial foundations that support organized crime such as the CJNG. The implications of these actions are far-reaching, addressing the need to disrupt the financial operations of cartels that operate within legal business frameworks.

The U.S. Treasury identified Carlos Humberto Rivera, owner of the Kovay Gardens resort, as a central figure in the cartel's fraudulent activities involving timeshares. This resort, previously known as Vallarta Gardens, has been implicated in various scams related to timeshare sales, showcasing the blurred lines between legitimate tourism businesses and criminal enterprises. The ongoing investigation and subsequent actions taken against these entities illustrate the increasing international focus on dismantling the financial and operational structures of drug cartels in the region, reflecting a dynamic and adaptive approach to law enforcement in addressing organized crime.