A border crossing designed to facilitate international trade is now at the center of an uncomfortable question: How did a construction company accused by U.S. authorities of helping launder cartel money secure government contracts for infrastructure connecting Mexico and Texas?
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned a network of individuals and businesses accused of working with the Cartel del Noreste, the violent criminal organization descended from the notorious Los Zetas. Among the companies caught in the crackdown is Construcciones y Edificaciones Garza Elias S.A. (CEGESA), a construction firm that received millions of pesos in public contracts to help build and improve the International Port of Entry in Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
The revelation raises serious questions about government contracting, corruption, and the vulnerability of critical border infrastructure to businesses accused of maintaining ties to organized crime.
According to a report by the Mexican investigative organization Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción e Impunidad, CEGESA and its owners, Gamaliel Garza Garcia and his son, Gamaliel Garza Elias, secured several contracts from the Nuevo Leon state government. One of those projects involved the very access roads and toll facilities serving an international crossing connecting Mexico with Texas.
In 2023, the company received two contracts worth a combined 94 million Mexican pesos, approximately $5.2 million, to construct toll booths and access roads at the Colombia crossing. It also received a separate contract to improve a tourist rest stop at the facility.
The company's government business stretched back even further. In 2022, CEGESA secured another contract worth 15 million pesos, approximately $800,000, for landscaping and materials associated with the port of entry.
These were not insignificant public works projects. The crossing serves a strategic purpose in cross-border commerce, making the integrity of the businesses involved in its construction a matter of legitimate concern for both Mexican and American authorities.
The Treasury Department's sanctions announcement adds a darker dimension to the contracting history. U.S. officials identified Garza Garcia and his son among individuals accused of paying bribes to Mexican officials in exchange for government contracts. Authorities also allege that companies within the network were used to launder money for the Cartel del Noreste, a faction associated with Los Zetas.
The broader sanctions package targeted four men and 11 companies linked by U.S. authorities to the criminal organization. The businesses reportedly included a horse-racing facility with a bar and restaurant, a trucking company, and multiple construction and gas enterprises.
The case illustrates how organized crime can reach beyond street-level violence and drug trafficking. If criminal organizations can exploit legitimate-looking businesses, secure public contracts, and move illicit proceeds through commercial operations, the resulting threat extends into the institutions and infrastructure that communities depend on.
For Washington, disrupting those financial networks is a critical part of confronting the cartels. Sanctions can restrict access to U.S.-linked financial systems and make it more difficult for designated individuals and companies to conduct business. But the effectiveness of that strategy also depends on whether authorities can expose the relationships, follow the money, and prevent public contracts from becoming another source of criminal enrichment.
The political fallout is already spreading across the border region.
In neighboring Tamaulipas, the state government issued a public statement saying its review of government records found that none of the 11 sanctioned companies or sanctioned individuals had received contracts since the current administration took office in 2022. That statement was an effort to distinguish the current administration from the network identified by U.S. authorities.
The statement does not resolve the questions surrounding the contracts awarded in Nuevo Leon, where CEGESA's work at the Colombia crossing has drawn attention. Nor does the existence of those contracts, by itself, establish that the state government knowingly awarded them to a cartel-linked enterprise.
