US freezes Sinaloa cartel assets in fight against fentanyl, human trafficking

The United States announced Tuesday that it is seizing assets from two transnational gangs known for smuggling fentanyl and people into the country: Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and Colombia’s Clan Del Golfo (CDG).

CDG is known for its role in smuggling people through Panama’s infamous Dairen Gap and is also one of Colombia’s largest drug traffickers, the U.S. Treasury Department explained.

Sinaloa, meanwhile, is said to be setting up businesses in Mexico that generally appear legitimate but are being used as part of the fentanyl trade across the border into the US.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to using every tool at our disposal to combat the cartels that are poisoning our communities with fentanyl and other deadly drugs,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a press release.

“The Treasury Department will continue to work tirelessly to target the financing that fuels the illicit fentanyl trade, including the business enterprises that line the pockets of members of the Sinaloa Cartel.”

The restrictions on the two groups, which effectively prevent them from accessing assets held in the U.S., reflect an ongoing effort to thwart efforts by transnational criminal gangs operating in the country. More than 350 individuals have been sanctioned in the past two years, the Treasury Department said.

In June, the U.S. State Department announced rewards totaling $8 million for information identifying CDG leaders responsible for human and arms trafficking through Darien.

The route through the dense jungle was used by more than half a million migrants in 2023 as they headed north toward the southern Mexican border, often aiming to reach the U.S. In July, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, told Newsweek that Darien posed “multiple serious and life-threatening problems” for migrants, with many reporting being victims of violent crime or sexual abuse during their journey.

Tuesday’s operations targeted five Colombian nationals and two Mexican companies with ties to Sinaloa.

One of them, Nieves y Paletas EVI, operates as a business selling frozen desserts in multiple locations in Culiacan, Pueblos Unidos and Tacuichamona, but authorities allege the business was established with proceeds from fentanyl sales.

The other – Farmacia y Mini Super Trinidad – is a pharmacy and convenience store in Nogales, Sonora, just across the border from Arizona. It is owned and controlled by notorious drug trafficker Jose Arnoldo Morgan Huerta (“Chachio”), the brother of a Sinaloa Cartel “plaza boss”, Juan Carlos Morgan Huerta (“Cacayo”).

Cacayo is known to have overseen the smuggling of multi-ton shipments of drugs across the border, including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl.

If a US citizen visits or does business with these companies, he or she may be subject to civil or criminal prosecution.

US authorities have already imposed sanctions on and arrested individuals linked to the Sinaloa cartel, including boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who appeared in court in New York on September 13.

These actions are said to have led to an increase in drug cartel-related violence in Mexico in recent weeks, with factions within the Sinaloa gang fighting each other.

The Biden-Harris administration and the Mexican government have faced criticism from Republicans for their handling of the crisis at the southern border.

Eric Hovde, the Republican candidate for Senate in Wisconsin, accused Biden of an “open borders” policy that has “emboldened drug cartels to flood our streets with fentanyl.”

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