The US imposes sanctions on top members of the Mexican cartel’s armed wing over the 2019 killings of nine Americans

The US on Thursday imposed sanctions on senior members of the armed wing of a Mexican drug cartel operating in border areas in and around Chihuahua, Mexico. The cartel has also been linked to the 2019 ambush nine Americans killed in Mexico.

Five Mexican citizens and two companies are connected La Linea, a violent drug trafficking organization based in Mexico fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the US on behalf of the transnational Juarez Cartel hit by economic sanctions Thursday.

The latest action is intended to prevent a major source of fentanyl from entering the US; the powerful opioid is currently the deadliest drug in the US. This is according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deaths from drug overdose in the US increased more than sevenfold between 2015 and 2021, although the agency reported a 3% decline in drug overdose deaths this year.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is charged with combating the illegal drug trade, Mexico and China are the top sources of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances smuggled directly into the US. Almost all precursor chemicals needed to get fentanyl out of China.

La Linea and the Juarez Cartel are known for inflicting violence on innocent people, and US authorities have sought to prosecute them – in July 2022, a federal judge in North Dakota said ordered La Linea to pay $4.6 billion in monetary damages to the families of nine Americans killed in an ambush in northern Mexico on November 4, 2019.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement Thursday that “if La Linea continues to directly contribute to the spread of deadly fentanyl in our communities, the Department of Treasury will continue to use every tool in our arsenal to address their criminal activities. “

The Biden administration has taken a slew of actions against fentanyl traffickers, charging powerful traffickers with drug and money laundering crimes and announcing charges and sanctions against Chinese companies and executives accused of importing the chemicals used to distribute the dangerous drug. to make.

In December 2023, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen launched a Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force that brings together personnel and intelligence from across the Treasury Department – ​​from the sanctions and intelligence divisions to the IRS Criminal Investigations – to work together more effectively to stem the flow of drugs to the US. country.

And President Biden signed the bipartisan FEND off Fentanyl Act as part of the supplemental spending package signed in April, which, among other things, declares the international trade in fentanyl a national emergency.

The fight against fentanyl has increasingly become a political issue. Republicans say the smuggling of fentanyl across the U.S.-Mexico border should be viewed alongside migration issues, which are a central issue in the 2024 presidential election.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has blamed migrants for the trafficking of drugs like fentanyl, even as federal data suggests many people smuggling fentanyl across the border are U.S. citizens.

Over the past two years, the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on more than 350 people and companies involved in drug trafficking, from cartel leaders to laboratories and suppliers.

Last month the US imposed a sanction man known as “The Tank” who allegedly heads Mexico’s hyper-violent fuel theft division Jalisco New Generation Cartel .

In July, the US imposed sanctions on a group of Mexican accountants and firms allegedly linked to a timeshare fraud ring run by the Jalisco Cartel in a multi-million dollar scheme targeting Americans.

The month before, U.S. officials announced economic sanctions against eight targets linked to a Mexican drug cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, accused of fentanyl trafficking and human smuggling. Among the targets was an alleged murderer named Uriel Tabares Martinez. According to the Treasury Department, he is known as “El Medico” (“The Doctor”) because of the violent and surgical manner in which he torture and kills those who encounter the high-ranking members of the cartel.