Close to the leadership of Mexico’s hyper-violent movement Jalisco New Generation Cartel It’s a man known as “The Tank” who runs his fuel theft arm, providing him with tens of millions of dollars a year by selling stolen gasoline through a network of seemingly legitimate businesses, according to the U.S. Treasury.
Ivan Cazarin Molina gets his nickname not from the vehicle he uses on the battlefield, but rather from the massive storage tanks he manages in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz.
Cazarin Molina is among nine Mexicans and 26 Mexico-based entities sanctioned Tuesday by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for their alleged role in fueling the cartel’s illicit activities.
Fuel theft is a major problem for the Mexican government and state oil company Pemex, costing it billions of dollars.
Organized crime groups illegally exploit pipelines, hijack tanker trucks or steal directly from refineries. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tasked the military with putting an end to these practices at the start of his term.
Mexican cartels are known to diversify into legitimate industries to diversify their revenues, whether agricultural products or derivatives. internet service.
According to the U.S. Treasury, Cazarin Molina reports directly to Jalisco Cartel leader Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho”. The US government is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the leader’s arrest.
U.S. Department of the Treasury
The gasoline that Cazarin Molina and his allies allegedly stole is stored in fuel storage tanks he controls in Veracruz and then sold through a network of gas stations he manages. The companies display logos, slogans and professional names such as “Etanofuel” and “G Energy.”
Some of the gasoline is sold to third parties and then sent to the United States.
“Tornado” and “El Mingo” also sanctioned
Cazarin Molina’s brother, nicknamed “Tornado,” who is imprisoned in Mexico but still involved in cartel activities, is among the others sanctioned.
“Like El Tanque, Tornado was a founding member of the CJNG and is a close friend of El Mencho,” the Treasury Department said. “Implicated in a homicide and recognized as a member of the CJNG’s armed wing, Tornado was arrested in 2013 but remains involved in CJNG activities in Veracruz from prison.”
Cazarin Molina’s father-in-law, Domingo Medina Diaz (nicknamed “El Mingo”), was also sanctioned. A nephew, Jahir Cazarin Ramos, was also on the list.
The new sanctions freeze any assets the individuals or companies own in the United States and prohibit U.S. citizens from doing business with them.
In December 2022, the Mexican army captured Antonio Oseguerathe brother of “El Mencho.” He allegedly oversaw violent actions and logistics, purchased weapons and laundered money for the Jalisco Cartel. The U.S. Treasury Department listed Antonio Oseguera’s alias as “El Tony Montana,” an apparent reference to the fictional protagonist of the 1983 gangster film “Scarface.”
The Jalisco Cartel is best known for producing millions of doses of deadly fentanyl and smuggling them into the United States as Xanax, Percocet or oxycodone. These pills cause about 70,000 deaths from overdose per year in the United States.
