The U.S Treasury has issued sanctions against nine Sinaloa drug trafficking cartel affiliates in Mexico, as well as the current boss of Colombia’s notorious Clan del Golfo criminal enterprise.
All ten have been designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control for their activities in narcotics trafficking, which means that any of their assets in the United States will be banned, and US residents are typically forbidden from dealing with any of their assets.
The nine Sinaloa cartel affiliates are the result of a US indictment announced in April that targeted a Sinaloa cartel branch managed by the sons of former leader Joaqun “El Chapo” Guzmán.
According to reports, Mexico extradited one of their sons, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, to the United States early this month. The sons were revealed as major manufacturers and traffickers of the lethal synthetic drug fentanyl.
The sanctions include several other people named in that indictment including people who assisted with security, the actual movement of fentanyl to the US, and the laundering of drug profits back to the cartel in Mexico.
The imposition of sanctions on Colombian Jobanis Villadiego coincides with the meeting of the US-Colombia Counternarcotic Working Group in Bogota.
Villadiego, also known as “Chiquito Malo,” took over the Clan del Golfo in 2022 when it was reported that the group’s previous leader would be extradited to the United States. In retaliation, Villadiego launched an onslaught against Colombian security forces.
Villadiego is charged with cocaine trafficking in the Southern District of Florida and being involved in a continuing criminal enterprise in the Eastern District of New York.
