Australian National Review – US imposes sanctions on Mexican frozen dessert company and pharmacy with ties to Sinaloa cartel

The sanctions also targeted five leaders of Clan de Golfo, one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in Colombia.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on two Mexico-based companies, a pharmacy and a frozen dessert company, that it said were owned by the Sinaloa cartel.

According to the Treasury Department, the Sinaloa Cartel is “one of the most notorious and widespread” drug trafficking organizations, responsible for smuggling massive quantities of illicit fentanyl and other drugs into the United States.

According to the report, cartel members used proceeds from the illegal drug trade to set up businesses that appeared legitimate.

The two Sinaloa-linked companies targeted by the sanctions are the Sonora-based pharmacy Farmacia y Mini Super Trinidad and Nieves y Paletas EVI, a frozen dessert company with multiple locations in Culiacan, Pueblos Unidos and Tacuichamona.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said Jesus Norberto Larranaga Herrera and Karla Gabriela Lizarraga Sanchez allegedly used fentanyl trafficking proceeds to establish Nieves y Paletas EVI. The pair were sanctioned by OFAC in March.

Farmacia y Mini Super Trinidad is owned by alleged drug trafficker Jose Arnoldo Morgan Huerta, the brother of Juan Carlos Morgan Huerta, who was described by OFAC as a Sinaloa Cartel “plaza boss” responsible for overseeing drug trafficking into the United States. Both were sanctioned in November 2023.

OFAC also imposed sanctions on five leaders of the Clan del Golfo (CDG), also known as Los Urabeños, who were designated by OFAC as a “major foreign drug trafficker” in Colombia.

According to OFAC, CDG is one of Colombia’s largest drug trafficking organizations, shipping “multi-ton quantities of cocaine” via maritime routes to Panama, Mexico and other Central American countries.

CDG is also known for its role as a “major contributor” to human trafficking through the Darién Gap, a stretch of rainforest that straddles the border between Colombia and Panama, the Treasury Department statement said.

The sanctioned CDG leaders are Jose Miguel Demoya Hernandez, Alexander Celis Durango, Jose Gonzalo Sanchez Sanchez, Jose Emilson Cordoba Quinto and Wilder de Jesus Alcaraz Morales. Three of them are wanted by Colombian authorities and are still at large.

The federal government is “committed to using all the tools at our disposal to combat the cartels that are poisoning our communities with fentanyl and other deadly drugs,” Deputy Finance Minister Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.

The sanctions were announced as Lisa Palluconi, acting director of OFAC, is scheduled to visit Colombia and Mexico this week to talk with the governments of both countries, the Treasury Department said.

Palluconi’s visit was aimed at strengthening regional ties with the US, promoting sanctions compliance and protecting the financial system from proceeds from illicit drug trafficking, the Treasury Department said.

Two factions of the powerful Sinaloa cartel recently clashed in the state capital, Culiacan, with teams of gunmen – or sicarios – shooting at each other and at security forces.

The surge in violence followed the arrest of Ismael Zambada in El Paso, Texas, on July 25. Zambada claims he was kidnapped in Mexico and flown to the United States by Joaquín Guzmán, a high-ranking criminal within a rival faction of the Sinaloa cartel that had been in talks with the United States about surrender.

Asked if the U.S. government was “jointly responsible” for the violence in Sinaloa, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said last week: “Yes, of course … for carrying out this operation.”

López Obrador, who is due to leave office next month, said US authorities carried out “that operation” to arrest Zambada and that “it was completely illegal, and that Justice Department agents were waiting for Mr. Mayo.”

US Ambassador Ken Salazar denied accusations that the United States was responsible for the upsurge in violence, which has left at least 30 people dead.

“What we are seeing in Sinaloa is not the fault of the United States,” Salazar told reporters in Mexico on Saturday, adding that the country cannot be held responsible for “the massacres we are seeing in different places.”

Chris Summers, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.