The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today announced the designation of four key Sinaloa Cartel operatives, including two sons of Sinaloa drug lord Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman Loera. Today’s action, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act), prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these four individuals, and also freezes any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.
OFAC is designating Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Ovidio Guzman Lopez for their roles in their father’s drug trafficking organization and the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2005, Mexican authorities arrested Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar on money laundering charges, but he was later released. Ovidio Guzman Lopez also plays a significant role in his father’s drug trafficking activities. Noel Salgueiro Nevarez is the head of the Sinaloa Cartel in the Mexican state of Chihuahua where a bloody turf war has claimed the lives of thousands. Mexican authorities arrested him in October 2011, and he remains in Mexican custody. Ovidio Limon Sanchez, also currently in Mexican custody, is a major operative for the Sinaloa Cartel in Sinaloa state. He was arrested in November 2011 by Mexican authorities. Additionally, in 2009, a jury in the U.S. District for the Central District of California returned an indictment against Ovidio Limon Sanchez, charging him with multiple counts of drug trafficking.
“OFAC will aggressively target those individuals who facilitate Chapo Guzman’s drug trafficking operations, including family members,” said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin. “With the Government of Mexico, we are firm in our resolve to dismantle Chapo Guzman’s drug trafficking organization.”
Joaquin Guzman Loera and the Sinaloa Cartel were previously identified by the President as significant foreign narcotics traffickers pursuant to the Kingpin Act in 2001 and 2009, respectively.
Treasury.gov press release link: here
