US Sanctions Cartel-Controlled Horse Racing and Construction Firms
Left 0%
Center 33%
Right 67%
0 left · 1 center · 2 right
What happened
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated four people tied to the Cartel del Noreste (CDN) faction of Los Zetas and multiple Mexican companies, blocking U.S. persons from dealing with them. Those named include Gamaliel Garza Garcia and his son Gamaliel Garza Elias, Nuevo Laredo plaza boss Pablo Cesar Guajardo Alvarez, and Francisco Javier Inzunza Partida, along with construction, fuel/gas, and transportation firms and a horse-racing venue. Treasury said CDN used drug proceeds to buy horses that raced in the United States and Mexico and operated a racetrack, bar, and restaurant in Nuevo Laredo under the name Club La Molienda. A related construction firm linked to the Garzas, Construcciones y Edificaciones Garza Elias (CEGESA), had received Nuevo Leon state contracts, including work in 2022–2023 at the Colombia International Port of Entry with Texas.
Sourcing check · Fully on the record · 3 articles
3 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 3 of 3
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Mexicanos Contra La Corrupcion e Impunidad, Treasury Department and Tamaulipas state government
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 2 of 3
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: sanctions announcement, Treasury sanctions announcement, NGO report
- Credits another outlet 0 of 3
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
- Unnamed sources 0 of 3
- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Oct 13, 15:57 UTC by NewsNation, naming its source. First document 7 hours later, from Breitbart (sanctions announcement).
- Not counted 0
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
BLINDSPOT.
Only right-leaning outlets are covering this story
— the other side's media is silent.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
The story is covered only on the right. Left-leaning outlets have not reported these sanctions at all. Right-leaning coverage says the U.S. Treasury designated Cartel Del Noreste members and companies that laundered drug proceeds through horse racing, gas, and construction, including a firm that built parts of a Texas-Mexico port of entry. A reader of the silent side therefore never learns that a now-sanctioned cartel-linked contractor worked on the Colombia International Port of Entry.
Breitbart's first account leads with Los Zetas mass killings and a Nuevo Laredo racetrack that kept running after an earlier U.S. horse seizure. Its second piece leads with the port contracts. The two stories do not disagree on the underlying designations.
Who screened the construction firm for cartel ties before it won work on that border crossing?
Bottom line
Left-leaning outlets have not reported the Treasury designations at all, even as Breitbart details $5.2 million in contracts a cartel-linked builder won for toll booths and roads at a U.S.-Mexico port of entry.
The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
- In 2023, CEGESA received two contracts totaling $5.2 million to construct toll booths and access roads at the Colombia International Port of Entry.
- Treasury said Gamaliel Garza Elias delivered illicit funds to Mexican political candidates on behalf of the cartel.
- In 2012 the U.S. government seized close to 500 horses from cartel-linked racing businesses.
- Tamaulipas said none of the 11 sanctioned companies or individuals had received state contracts since 2022.
- CDN-Los Zetas still run Club La Molienda, a Nuevo Laredo racetrack, bar, and restaurant used for races and high-end horse sales.
The Right View
Coverage is concentrated in right-leaning outlets, chiefly Breitbart, which present the OFAC action as showing CDN-Los Zetas laundering money and funding politics through horse racing, construction, and gas companies. Those reports recap CDN violence (including a 2011 Monterrey casino fire and 2014 Coahuila killings), the 2012 U.S. seizure of nearly 500 horses, alleged bribes for Mexican contracts, and CEGESA’s work on the Colombia port of entry. They also note Tamaulipas’s claim that none of the 11 sanctioned companies or individuals received state contracts after 2022. Center-source grounding from NewsNation states Treasury’s core claim: CDN used drug proceeds to purchase horses that raced in the U.S. and Mexico.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: it is anchored in a named OFAC package with specific people, companies, a racetrack (Club La Molienda), and checkable contract figures for CEGESA at the Colombia port of entry. Established is that Treasury designated these parties and publicly alleged CDN money laundering via quarter-horse racing and other businesses, and that Mexican reporting tied CEGESA to Nuevo Leon port-of-entry contracts. Remaining alleged, unless independently proven in court, are the underlying crimes, delivery of illicit funds to political candidates, and that the port work itself was cartel-directed. No left-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch for the official OFAC notices and SDN listings, Mexican contract records and government responses, and any follow-on indictments or asset forfeitures.
3 sources
More stories
The week's bottom lines, in your inbox
One email a week: the five stories that mattered and what they actually mean. Free.