U.S. Treasury authorities have applied sanctions to five leaders of Mexico’s notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted CJNG leader Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” and three of his top lieutenants, along with Ricardo Ruiz, a CJNG commander who has been implicated in high-profile murders in Mexico for more than a decade.
The OFAC announcement made reference to Ruiz being the leading suspect in the May 13 murder of influencer Valeria Márquez while she live-streamed a TikTok video.
In a press release, the OFAC announced that “all property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons … that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.”
This designation also prohibits all transactions by persons from or within the United States that involve any property of the sanctioned individuals.
The CJNG is accused of producing fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and other illicit drugs trafficked into the United States. The cartel also allegedly controls the deep-water port of Manzanillo in the western state of Colima, where it obtains fentanyl precursors and controls other drug trafficking operations through the port.
“CJNG’s reign of terror across Mexico and its trafficking of fentanyl into the United States has destroyed countless innocent lives,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press release.
The U.S. government is offering a reward of up to US $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Oseguera.
In addition to “El Mencho” and Ruiz, the OFAC designated Julio Alberto Castillo, Audias Flores and Gonzalo Mendoza as “blocked persons.”
Castillo is a senior CJNG member and Oseguera’s son-in-law and is regarded as a potential successor to “El Mencho.”
Flores is described as a CJNG regional commander in charge of producing meth in the states of Zacatecas, Guerrero, Nayarit, Jalisco and Michoacán. There is a US $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Flores.
Mendoza is known for prolific recruitment strategies, the OFAC alleges, and links him to the CJNG recruitment camp in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, known as Izaguirre Ranch. Mendoza has also been involved in the murder of numerous Mexican law enforcement officers.
Pathetic… you know who these guys are so why aren’t they in prison Mexico? Does the u.s. have to come get them? This is why Mexico is still a third world country.
Talk about pathetic — trump sits convicted of 34 felonies and was adjudicated to be a rapist (digital penetration) by 12 jurors in a civil suit and his reality-denying cultists still voted him back into office (with less than 50% of the vote). This is why the US is devolving into an idiocracy.
If Mexico is a third world country then I like third world countries more than my first world country. And Thank God this third world country ain’t gonna take the bait and allow the US government into its borders to wreck havoc like it has the world over. That history is crystal clear. The US military simply cares about one thing, projecting power. All the while destroying countries and the lives of their citizens.
I went to a Mexican doctor in Mexico yesterday. A very kind man who speaks good English. After I told him why I was there and he had prescribed medication he asked me how the Iran war was going. He didn’t ask to be an ass. Or assume I was a supporter. I said I don’t know. My wife said appropriately “we don’t care, we aren’t targets anymore” as we have moved at least part time to Mexico and we will travel on our sailboat the rest of the year. She’s right.
Then I mentioned how Mexico isn’t ever attacked. No one sees Mexico as an enemy. I take it back now that I think of it, the US does. Aside from the US though no one does. I mentioned to my doctor when was the last time Mexico was attacked by the Spanish? 1500’s he said. I didn’t remember the years. Oddly enough we (the US) attacked them in the 1800’s. But we attack everyone.
We both expressed frustration. And true bewilderment. As long as my country has such disdain for the world and wants to constantly shove its weight around, as it does when it unilaterally seizes “drug monies” with no due process I will not consider the US a first world country. And as long as Mexico remains the kind, compassionate, friendly, and non interventionist country it is I won’t consider it a third world country.
I see no evidence either country is changing its ways. Gracias Mexico. We feel a 100 times safer here than in the US. For a whole myriad of reasons.