El País examines Ávila stake in sanctioned company
Original reporting: El País México
What happened
El País México reported on Marina del Pilar Ávila’s former stake in Vida Orgánica, a company later designated by the U.S. Treasury over alleged Sinaloa Cartel ties. Ávila said she transferred her interest in 2023 and denied wrongdoing.
Reporting and context
Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila invested in Vida Orgánica, a Tijuana company later designated by the U.S. Treasury over alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, when she was mayor of Mexicali, according to El País México. The company was founded in 2020 by Ávila, her then-husband Carlos Torres, his brother Luis Alberto Torres and other shareholders.
According to El País México, Ávila said she donated her 15,000-peso stake to Torres in April 2023 and has repeatedly described the business as a small market from which she withdrew. The paper reported that the company’s public registration was rectified in September 2026, 19 days before the Treasury’s sanctions announcement, while the state government attributed the discrepancy to a notarial error and said the transfer had taken effect in 2023.
The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control said Torres used political influence to facilitate the activities of a Sinaloa Cartel-linked organization and protect it from authorities. El País reported that the Treasury also revoked Torres’s visa in May 2025 and that Ávila’s visa was canceled at the same time, although the reasons for her cancellation were not publicly explained. Ávila has denied wrongdoing, said she is calm and rejected calls to leave office.