The U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it has sanctioned two Mexican companies — an ice cream chain and a local pharmacy — for allegedly using proceeds from fentanyl trafficking to finance their operations linked to the Sinaloa cartel.
The move comes as rival factions of the cartel are at odds deadly conflict between themselves and with the authorities following the surprise arrest on American soil of the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in late July, which reportedly sparked an internal power struggle within the group.
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.S. agency that fights illicit funds and money laundering, said individuals previously cited for money laundering had set up a chain of ice cream and popsicle shops in the state of Sinaloa.
The Sinaloa Cartel often uses its revenues from international drug trafficking to build businesses, investing money in everything from Fraudulent timeshare transactions to restaurants to launder money.
OFAC said another individual set up a pharmacy and convenience store using drug proceeds in the northern state of Sonora.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to using every tool at our disposal to combat the cartels that are poisoning our communities with fentanyl and other deadly drugs,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.
The sanctions come days after the United States rejected accusations by Mexico’s president that it was partly responsible for the escalation of the cartel war that has left dozens dead in Sinaloa.
IVAN MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images
The cartel is responsible for a significant portion of fentanyl trafficking in the United States. They use precursor chemicals from China and India to manufacture the synthetic opioid and smuggle it into the United States, where it causes an estimated 70,000 overdose deaths each year.
Jesús Norberto Larrañaga Herrera, known as “El 30,” and Karla Gabriela Lizárraga Sánchez, created “Nieves y Paletas,” an ice cream chain with several stores in the capital, thanks to drug proceeds, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
OFAC said a Sonora pharmacy and convenience store were linked to drug trafficker José Arnoldo Morgan Huerta, known as “Chachio.” His brother, Juan Carlos Morgan Huerta, known as “Cacayo,” is a “place boss” in the Sinaloa Cartel and oversees drug trafficking in the border city of Nogales.
“Today’s action is part of a whole-of-government effort to counter the global threat posed by illicit drug trafficking in the United States, which causes the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans each year, as well as countless other non-fatal overdoses,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in the statement.
Separately, the Treasury Department also announced Tuesday that it was sanctioning five executives of The Clan del Golfo of Colombia (CDG), a major drug trafficking network.
The Gulf Clan “is one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the country and a key contributor to human trafficking through the Darien Gap,” authorities said in a statement.
In July, US President Joe Biden announced a series of proposals aimed at curbing the current crisis. drug epidemicThese include urging Congress to pass legislation to establish a registry of pill presses and pill-making machines, and strengthening penalties for convicted drug and fentanyl traffickers.
