PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) - In a significant crackdown on drug trafficking operations, the U.S. Treasury Department announced a series of economic sanctions targeting 13 individuals and four corporate entities associated with the notorious Sinaloa cartel. This move comes as part of a strategic effort to dismantle the distribution of fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
The Treasury Department, in a statement released this Tuesday, outlined the concerted measures taken in coordination with the Mexican government, including collaboration with Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF). One of the principal figures, Juan Carlos Morgan Huerta, known as "Cacayo," has been sanctioned explicitly for his pivotal role in the cartel's operations within the Nogales municipality in Sonora.
According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), "Cacayo" is charged with orchestrating the trafficking of substantial quantities of narcotics, including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and the highly potent opioid, fentanyl. A U.S. court indicted him for drug trafficking offenses in April 2021, and he is currently evading law enforcement.
The U.S. administration has employed transportation methods such as "trucks with trailers" among other techniques for smuggling drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Furthering the sanctions, President Joe Biden's administration has also targeted several of Huerta's relatives. These include his four brothers—José Arnoldo, José Luis, Miguel Angel, and Martín Morgan Huerta—as well as his uncle, Oscar Murillo Morgan. Each has been accused of engaging in different facets of the cartel's operations from bribing officials and sourcing drugs to overseeing logistics and negotiating business deals, as well as money laundering activities.
The list of sanctioned individuals extends to include David Alonso Chavarin Preciado, Jesús Francisco Camacho Porchas, Oscar Enrique Moreno Orozco, Ramiro Martín Romero Wirichaga, Sergio Isaías Hernández Mazón, Álvaro Ramos Acosta, and Colombian national Cristian Julián Meneses Ospina.
Furthermore, the OFAC's actions have implicated four Mexico-based companies allegedly affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel. These are the restaurant Conceptos Gastronomicos de Sonora, also operating under the name Habanero's; the mining enterprise Morgan Golden Mining; and the commercial entities Comercializadora Villba Stone and Exportadora del Campos Ramos Acosta.
Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian E. Nelson, was quoted emphasizing the U.S. resolve to "aggressively pursue" those integrated within the drug trade networks, particularly those involved with fentanyl—a substance up to 50 times more potent than heroin and linked to nearly 110,000 overdose deaths in the United States in 2022 alone.
In the wake of these sanctions, all property and interests in property belonging to the designated individuals and entities that are within U.S. jurisdiction or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are to be frozen, delivering a powerful blow to their financial capabilities.
This measure underscores the ongoing battle against the opioid epidemic and signifies the lengths to which the U.S. government will go to combat the far-reaching impact of fentanyl and other drug trade operations on American soil.
