The US Department of the Treasury has sanctioned leaders of Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a Mexican-based violent gang also recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), for trafficking Fentanyl.
The sanctions follow President Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to combat central and South American criminal networks’ operations in the US.
Treasury credits CJNG for a significant portion of fentanyl and other illicit drugs entering the United States and for using grotesque predatory practices, such as targeted killings of women, to outcompete rival gangs.
“CJNG’s reign of terror across Mexico and its trafficking of fentanyl into the United States has destroyed countless innocent lives,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
CJNG leaders sanctioned include founder and gang boss Ruben Osguera Cervantes as well as three other subordinates.
Together, they face accusations of committing heinous crimes, including murdering and corrupting public officials, illegal trafficking of drugs, and earning billions of dollars in profits from criminal activity.
The US is offering a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Oseguera.
Earlier this year, President Trump ordered for sundry cartels and criminal organizations to be designated as FTOs.
Trump’s anti-cartel initiatives mark a new era in the US’s efforts to combat Mexican gangs, which could feature military action against the latter given their novel FTO designation.
The use of military force against cartels operating in Mexico is unlikely, however, as Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum has opposed the idea and criticized it as a violation of Mexico’s sovereignty.
State Department Secretary Marco Rubio explained that the FTO designation would “protect our nation, the American people, and our hemisphere.”
Secretary Bessent echoed Secretary Rubio’s sentiment as he expanded on the new CJNG sanctions.
“The United States remains strongly committed,” pledged Bessent, “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.”
