On Monday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed new sanctions targeting Los Chapitos, a powerful faction of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Cartel, in a continued effort to combat the trafficking and production of illicit fentanyl. The sanctions are part of a broader crackdown on the criminal organizations fueling the deadly opioid crisis in the United States.
In a Press Release, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated two prominent fugitives and senior leaders of Los Chapitos: Archivaldo Iván Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar. Both men are sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, the imprisoned former head of the Sinaloa Cartel. The brothers have long been accused of playing central roles in the cartel’s global drug operations.
In a related development, gunmen tied to the Sinaloa Cartel have been linked to the killing of former U.S. Marine Nicholas Quets on October 18, 2024, in Sonora, Mexico. The incident underscores the cartel’s violent reach and the growing threat it poses to both Mexican citizens and foreign nationals.
OFAC also sanctioned a regional network of Los Chapitos affiliates and businesses based in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. According to the Treasury, these entities are involved in a wide array of criminal activities, including drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and money laundering. The designations are aimed at freezing their U.S.-linked assets and cutting off their access to the global financial system.
The latest round of sanctions highlights the U.S. government’s ongoing efforts to disrupt the financial infrastructure of transnational criminal organizations contributing to the fentanyl epidemic.
An On-the-Record Statement from Doug Quets, Father of former U.S. Marine Killed by Sinaloa Linked Gunmen was provided by the Treasury:
“The Quets family expresses our deep and enduring gratitude to President Trump and his entire Cabinet for unwaveringly using every instrument of national power in the pursuit of justice for our beloved Nicholas.
Nicholas Quets was an innocent American and proud U.S. Marine veteran whose bright future was stolen on October 18, 2024, when he was ambushed just south of the U.S. border by a heavily armed cell of the Sinaloa Cartel. Cowards in cartel insignia—more than two dozen strong—pursued Nicholas and fatally shot him in the back, through the heart, during a failed carjacking, only after confirming his status as an American. This was not just murder—it was a deliberate act of terror against a known American citizen.
The designation of the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) was a vital first step in honoring Nicholas’ memory and protecting other Americans from suffering similar tragedies. It sends a clear message: Those who target U.S. citizens—no matter where they are—will face the full force of American resolve.
Secretary Bessent’s decisive action to target the Sinaloa Cartel’s financial networks strikes at the heart of this transnational threat. Disrupting their ability to move money, launder profits, and bribe officials is essential to dismantling this criminal empire.
In Nicholas’ name, we remain committed to seeing the Sinaloa Cartel fully destroyed and every individual—whether cartel member or complicit official—brought to justice in U.S. courts and, ultimately, before God. #JusticeForNicholasQuets” – Doug Quets, Father of Nicholas Quets, former U.S. Marine Killed by Sinaloa Linked Gunmen
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Author: Sara Carter Staff
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