US authorities have targeted four sons of notorious Mexican drug lord El Chapo — known as the “Chapitos” — as well as individuals associated with Chinese chemical companies in a sweeping move designed to crack down on the fentanyl trade.
On Friday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel drug operation the “largest, most violent and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.”
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the charges “target every element of the Sinaloa cartel’s smuggling network” as part of what she called an “unrelenting campaign to disrupt the production, distribution and trade of fentanyl “.
Officials said the Sinaloa Cartel has been led in recent years by Ivan Guzman Salazar, 40, Alfredo Guzman Salazar, 37, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 36, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 33 — all sons of notorious leader Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka as “El Chapo”, who is currently serving a life sentence in the US.
Three of those sons, Ivan, Alfredo and Joaquin, remain at large, while Ovidio was arrested by Mexican authorities in January. He remains in custody pending extradition to the US.
All four along with 24 others were charged with trafficking fentanyl, guns and money, among several other charges, filed in three separate federal jurisdictions: the Southern District of New York, the Northern District of Illinois and the District of Columbia.
Those charged included “manufacturers and distributors” of the cartel’s fentanyl, “managers” of the armed security apparatus and money launderers, as well as several men identified as employees of companies in China “that produce chemical precursors to fentanyl,” according to the statement. the authorities.
At a news conference on Friday, Anne Milgram, administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, said the Sinaloa cartel expanded into the fentanyl trade when El Chapo’s sons took over.
“Let me be clear that the Chapitos pioneered the production and trade of the deadliest drug our country has ever faced and that they are responsible for the massive influx of fentanyl into the United States,” she said.
The United States offers rewards leading to the arrest or conviction of 27 fentanyl traffickers. Today’s actions demonstrate the determination of the United States to promote accountability for criminals who continue illegal fentanyl activities.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 14, 2023
“As a direct result of their actions, we have lost hundreds of thousands of American lives,” she said.
Fentanyl is currently the “leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 49,” according to the U.S. government. The drug has fueled an opioid epidemic, with fatal overdoses increasing by about 94 percent between 2019 and 2021.
Milgram went on to describe what she described as a relentless campaign by the Chapitos to boost business and “get Americans hooked”, including adding the drug to cocaine, heroin or illegal methamphetamines, or disguising it as pills that resemble on prescription drugs.
“To dominate the fentanyl supply chain, the Chapitos kill, kidnap and torture anyone who gets in their way,” Milgram said. “In Mexico, they fed their enemies alive to tigers, electrocuted them, set up waterboards and shot them at close range with a 50-caliber machine gun.”
The State Department also announced on Friday up to $56 million in rewards for information leading to the suspect’s arrest.
The DOJ indictments accompanied the latest round of sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals identified as suppliers of chemicals to manufacturers of fentanyl.
The Treasury Department on Friday named two China-based companies that it said contributed or attempted to contribute to “activities or transactions that materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international distribution of illicit drugs or their means of production”.
Among those penalized was Ana Gabriela Rubio Zea, whom the department described as a “Guatemala-based broker” of the chemical precursor.
Officials said Rubio Zea used “her expertise and contacts” to evade detection by customs officials, sometimes disguising the chemicals in food containers.
She was also charged in the DOJ indictment.