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Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
US announces charges against members of Mexico's United Cartels
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Separately, on Thursday, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against the group and a subsidiary Mexican cartel known as Los Viagras, as well as seven connected individuals, freezing their assets in the United States. Advertisement 'Today's charges are designed to dismantle the United Cartels and bring their leaders to justice for unleashing death and destruction on American citizens,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. The Trump administration has vowed to eradicate powerful drug cartels that have controlled parts of Mexico. Advertisement The Washington Post has reported that US officials are weighing plans to use military force to target cartel leaders and infrastructure, including potentially launching missiles into Mexico. In recent months, Mexico has shown increased willingness to cooperate with its northern neighbor on broader efforts to combat cartels. On Tuesday, the Mexican government expelled 26 drug cartel figures in its custody, transferring them to face charges in the United States. Mexico sent 29 others in February, including Rafael Caro Quintero, a drug lord wanted for the killing of a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 1985. United Cartels, an umbrella organization composed of several smaller outfits, was one of eight organizations the Trump administration designated as foreign terrorist organizations in January, freeing up resources and additional tactics to target top leaders. The case against the United Cartels leaders announced Thursday began with a 2019 car crash outside Knoxville, when two alleged dealers fleeing the scene of the wreck threw a case filled with meth behind a building before being apprehended by police, according to court filings. Investigators said they eventually traced those drugs to what a senior Justice Department official described as a cartel operative based in Atlanta. Attempts by authorities to track that man's movements prompted a shootout in Tennessee in early 2020 that left one officer injured. The man is believed to have fled back to Mexico shortly afterward, but evidence recovered from their investigation of that incident eventually led back to the United Cartels, investigators said. In addition to Farías Álvarez, the other cartel leaders named in Thursday's indictments include Alfonso Fernández Magallón, also known as Poncho, and Nicolás Sierra Santana, also known as 'El Gordo.' Two other defendants — Edgar Orozco Cabadas, also known as 'El Kamoni,' and Luis Enrique Barragán Chavez, also known as 'Wicho' — are also charged and accused of leading armed factions of the group that enforced the cartel's control in Michoacán. Advertisement
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Trump administration sanctions two Mexican drug cartels, announces bounties
The United States Treasury Department has revealed it is sanctioning two Mexican drug cartels, Carteles Unidos and Los Viagras, and seven affiliated individuals on allegations of 'terrorism'. The Treasury Department announced the sanctions on Thursday. Separately, the Justice Department stated it was charging five high-ranking members of Carteles Unidos with crimes related to drug trafficking. 'These actions further President Donald Trump's directive to completely eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations threatening the American people,' the Treasury said in a social media post. In a statement, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained that the sanctions would help the US government hamstring the cartel's ability to generate revenue, including through cross-border commerce. 'Today's sanctions action draws further attention to the diverse, insidious ways the cartels engage in violent activities and exploit otherwise legitimate commerce,' Bessent said. Both Carteles Unidos and Los Viagras are said to be active in the Mexican state of Michoacan, where the Treasury said that they use funds from drug trafficking to hire mercenaries, bribe officials and buy weapons. Thursday's sanctions will freeze any US-based assets the targeted individuals may have, and people in the US are prohibited from making transactions with them. The Trump administration has pledged to take a hard line against criminal groups and those involved in drug trafficking, including by labelling some Latin American criminal networks as 'foreign terrorist organisations'. Experts, however, have questioned the efficacy of such steps and raised fears that they could backfire, penalising nonprofits and civilians who live and work in gang-controlled territory. Also on Thursday, the Department of Justice announced that it was offering rewards for information leading to the arrests of Carteles Unidos leader Juan Jose Farias Alvarez, also known as 'El Abuelo' or 'The Grandfather', as well as Alfonso Fernandez Magallon, Luis Enrique Barragan Chavez, Edgar Orozco Cabadas and Nicolas Sierra Santana. They are charged with participation in a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute drugs for importation to the US. Altogether, the rewards totalled $26m, with the highest single bounty offered for Farias Alvarez, at $10m. Earlier this week, the Mexican government sent 26 suspected cartel members to the US to face charges, the second such transfer this year. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum emphasised that the transfer was a 'sovereign decision' she undertook, but critics have expressed concern that the US has been exerting increasing pressure on her government to bend to its will. Last week, for example, US media reported that Trump signed an order authorising the US military to carry out operations against cartels and other criminal groups, a move that Mexican politicians have warned could result in US troops on Mexican soil. That, critics warn, would constitute a serious violation of the country's sovereignty. Sheinbaum, however, attempted to dispel concerns in a news conference: 'There will be no invasion of Mexico,' she said. Mexico, meanwhile, has also called on the US to take greater steps to restrict the massive flow of weapons from sellers and manufacturers north of the border. Mexican authorities and other experts have argued that those weapons fuel the violence committed by criminal groups. But the US has rebuffed such efforts, and in June, the US Supreme Court struck down a lawsuit from the Mexican government arguing that the flow of illicit firearms constituted negligence.
