MEXICO - The US Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned members of a Sinaloa cartel faction known as Los Mayos, one of the groups that has tormented Sinaloa’s capital in an ongoing war for control.
The move came on the same day that US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley is visiting Mexico, and after the Trump administration designated the Sinaloa cartel as a terrorist group earlier this year.
Hurley is meeting with Mex`ican authorities and business leaders to discuss strategies for combating drug trafficking, cartel operations and illicit financing. The US Treasury Department said in a statement that the official’s main message will be that the department “will not allow Mexico-based drug cartels to access the US financial system.”
It’s part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to crack down on cartels. In addition to pressuring Mexico’s government to more aggressively pursue the criminal groups, the administration has also doled out rounds of sanctions to cartel leaders, banks it alleged facilitated money transfers for cartels and a rapper accused of laundering money for the groups.
On Thursday, the US Treasury sanctioned the entirety of Los Mayos, the leader of it’s armed wing, Juan José Ponce Félix, as well as five people and 15 companies with alleged connections to the group along the US-Mexico border. It froze all the assets of those listed in the sanctions, and blocked any transactions with them or any related entities or businesses. It also sanctioned another local gang affiliated with the cartel, known as Los Rugrats. (Jamaica Gleaner)
