A video circulated on social media shows Salvador Machuca, head of Fishing for the Bahía de Banderas City Council in Nayarit, handing over cash to Oscar Enrique Jiménez Tapia, identified by the United States government as an operator of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Following the dissemination of the footage, the official was dismissed, reported journalist Víctor Hugo Arteaga. In an interview for 'Aristegui en Vivo,' the journalist stated that the recording shows Machuca, a relative of the mayor's brother-in-law, Héctor Santana García (from the MORENA party), placing several bundles of bills on a desk, while Jiménez Tapia live-streams the moment from an open account. Arteaga specified that the person receiving the cash is Oscar Enrique Jiménez Tapia, alias 'El Tagayas,' who was last week identified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as a CJNG operator. During the recording, the person filming is heard referring to a 'deputy' as the one who would have brought the money. Arteaga emphasized that Machuca was not a legislator and suggested that if the video was recorded three years ago, as the mayor claimed in a statement, during that period the current municipal president held a local deputyship. 'We don't know for sure why they call him a deputy,' said the journalist and added that the mayor argued the video could be three years old, but did not provide dates or context. Arteaga questioned that if the material is old, Machuca was later incorporated into the municipal administration. 'If he knew this was in open networks, why did he appoint him to that position?' the journalist also asked. Arteaga also reported that Jiménez Tapia was pointed out by U.S. authorities in an investigation related to a suspected real estate fraud in Cobay Gardens, located in that municipality. However, he said, it is not possible to determine if the money shown in the video is linked to that case. 'It cannot be known' the origin of the cash, he indicated; however, he highlighted that the company mentioned conducts local operations that depend administratively on the city council. In the same interview, Arteaga stated that, according to U.S. sources, the mayor may have had his visa revoked last year, although he acknowledged that the official has publicly rejected that version. 'If I am wrong, I accept the mistakes, meanwhile, let him show his visa.' After the video went public, the municipal president announced the dismissal of Salvador Machuca and ordered an internal investigation. So far, no results of that inquiry have been reported, Víctor Hugo Arteaga advanced. The journalist said this case shows the possible infiltration of organized crime into municipal structures. To date, MORENA, the party to which the mayor belongs, has not taken a public stance on this accusation against one of its members, who was a local deputy for the PRI during the Roberto Sandoval Castañeda and former prosecutor Édgar Veytia administrations; the former is being prosecuted for money laundering and the latter was sentenced for drug trafficking in the United States.
