The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned eight Mexican individuals and twelve companies based in Mexico that are connected to the Sinaloa Cartel. The sanctioned entities supply illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals to the cartel’s Los Chapitos faction.
“Over 500,000 Americans have died of fentanyl poisoning,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said in a statement. “President Trump has made clear that stopping the deadly flow of drugs into our country is a top national security priority. Under Secretary Bessent’s leadership, the Treasury Department is committed to dismantling the complex financial networks that support these terrorist organizations.”
According to the Treasury Department, Los Chapitos have “consistently procured precursor chemicals, overseen illicit laboratories, and managed drug distribution.”
In February, the State Department designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The State Department described the entity as “one of the world’s most powerful drug cartels and is one of the largest producers and traffickers of fentanyl and other illicit drugs to the United States.” It has used “violence to murder, kidnap, and intimidate civilians, government officials, and journalists.”
Similarly, a $10 million reward was offered for two fugitive leaders of Los Chapitos, Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar.
“Los Chapitos is a powerful, hyperviolent faction of the Sinaloa Cartel at the forefront of fentanyl trafficking into the United States,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in June. “At the Department of the Treasury, we are executing on President Trump’s mandate to completely eliminate drug cartels and take on violent leaders like ‘El Chapo’s’ children. Treasury is maximizing all available tools to stop the fentanyl crisis and help save lives.”
