The U.S. Treasury hit top Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion leaders with fresh sanctions on Wednesday as the Trump administration cracks down on illicit fentanyl trafficking.
“CJNG’s reign of terror across Mexico and its trafficking of fentanyl into the United States has destroyed countless innocent lives,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “The United States remains strongly committed to leveraging all available tools to degrade the capacity of CJNG and other cartels to flood our streets with dangerous drugs and perpetrate heinous acts of violence against civilians.”
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned five of CJNG’s Mexico-based leaders. OFAC said CJNG is a violent cartel responsible for “a significant share of fentanyl and other illicit drugs entering the United States.”
“It uses murder as a tactic to intimidate rivals, including sending messages to other cartels through the targeted killings of women,” according to OFAC. “The recent discovery of a CJNG recruitment camp, Izaguirre ranch – which was reportedly used to execute recruits that defy instructions – underscores the cartel’s brutal methods.”
OFAC designated CJNG leader Ruben Oseguera Cervantes (known as “El Mencho”), along with three other top cartel members. OFAC also sanctioned a CJNG commander, linked to El Mencho, who has been identified as the prime suspect in the recent murder of Mexican influencer Valeria Marquez during a live social media broadcast.
CJNG runs clandestine laboratories in Mexico to produce fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and other illicit drugs. The cartel effectively controls the deep-water port of Manzanillo in the Mexican State of Colima and runs fentanyl precursor procurement and other drug trafficking operations through the port.
“CJNG’s ruthless ambition to expand its operations has led the organization to deploy kidnappings, torture, bombings, and executions of civilians, Mexican politicians, and military and law enforcement officers,” OFAC noted.
It’s not the first time the cartel has faced sanctions. In 2015, OFAC designated CJNG pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act for the cartel’s role in international narcotics trafficking. In 2021, OFAC also designated CJNG pursuant to an executive order. In February, the U.S. Department of State designated CJNG as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The sanctions essentially cut of cartel members and businesses controlled by them from the U.S. financial system.
