Puerto Vallarta (PVDN) - On Wednesday, the United States sanctioned six Mexicans for trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl, including Luis Gerardo Flores Madrid, a member of the Sinaloa Cartel who works for Ovidio Guzmán López, son of capo Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) considered that the Sinaloa Cartel, led by two of those sanctioned, the brothers Ludim and Luis Alfonso Zamudio Lerma, is responsible for diverting illicit chemical substances directly into the hands of members of the Sinaloa Cartel and laboratory operators.
By doing so, according to their statement, they “further” reinforce the role of the Sinaloa Cartel as a notable facilitator of the illicit trafficking of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States.
In addition to the Zamudio brothers and Luis Gerardo Flores, Ludim Zamudio Ibarra, son of Ludim Zamudio Lerma, and laboratory operators Ernesto Machado Torres and José Santana Arredondo Beltrán are included in the sanctions.
"Chemical precursors are used in the so-called 'super laboratories' – those in which 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) or more of drugs are produced per cycle – to produce fentanyl and methamphetamine for the Sinaloa Cartel," OFAC detailed in the statement.
"The Zamudio Lerma brothers and their network enable the production of synthetic drugs that devastate the lives of Americans while lining the pockets of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel," said OFAC Director Andrea Gacki. “Depriving this network of access and resources will hinder the ability of the Sinaloa Cartel to produce and traffic the illicit drugs on which it depends .”
Along with them, the United States has also targeted two companies belonging to the Zamudio family (Aceros y Refacciones del Humaya and Farmacia Ludim), the real estate companies Operadora Zait and Inmobiliaria del Rio Humaya, and two import firms, Operator of Humaya and Operator Parque Alamedas.
OFAC stressed that the action has been coordinated with the Mexican government and "would not have been possible" without their cooperation.
As a result of the sanctions, the properties and assets that these people or companies have in the United States are blocked and Americans are prohibited from having transactions with them.
"Today's action is part of an effort by the United States government to counter the global threat posed by illicit drug trafficking into the United States, which is causing tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually," the statement said. OFAC.
On February 15, the US drug enforcement agency (DEA) asked the Mexican government to "do more" against the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), which it blames for the thousands of deaths from Fentanyl overdose in the US.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than morphine and mixed with other drugs to enhance its effect, is manufactured in Mexico from precursors imported from China and then trafficked to the United States.
“We believe that Mexico has to do more to stop the damage that is being caused. These two Mexican cartels, the one in Sinaloa and the one in Jalisco, dominate the global supply chain for fentanyl, ”remarked the director of the DEA, Anne Milgram, in an appearance before the Senate.
According to the DEA, the Sinaloa Cartel operates in at least 19 of the 32 Mexican states, while the CJNG does so in 23 regions.
