The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an alert Tuesday to “raise awareness” of the recent designations of eight Latin American drug cartels as terrorist groups—and to spell out the enhanced sanctions and legal risks for entities with exposure to them.
The designations had signaled a strong prioritization by the Trump administration, which vowed to combat the cartels’ “unusual and extraordinary threat,” including through the trafficking of fentanyl. Tuesday’s OFAC alert noted that Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designations “provide the U.S. government critical tools to combat cartels and curtail their support for terrorist activities.”
That means extra scrutiny not only on the cartels in question but also on their connections to financial institutions, companies and individuals who support their activities.
The designated cartels:
What the alert says:
Both Hernandez Perez’s designation and the OFAC alert followed Saturday’s deportations to El Salvador of more than 200 migrants who the Trump administration said were members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
Keep up: Kharon is hosting a QuickTake webinar Thursday, March 26, on the U.S. government’s intensifying efforts to disrupt the supply chains fueling the fentanyl crisis. Join our experts as they walk through key strategies for identifying exposure to fentanyl procurement networks and understanding the implications of recent legislative and regulatory actions.
Read more:
The designations had signaled a strong prioritization by the Trump administration, which vowed to combat the cartels’ “unusual and extraordinary threat,” including through the trafficking of fentanyl. Tuesday’s OFAC alert noted that Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designations “provide the U.S. government critical tools to combat cartels and curtail their support for terrorist activities.”
That means extra scrutiny not only on the cartels in question but also on their connections to financial institutions, companies and individuals who support their activities.
The designated cartels:
- Tren de Aragua
- Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)
- Cártel de Sinaloa
- Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación
- Cártel del Noreste
- La Nueva Familia Michoacana
- Cártel de Golfo
- Cárteles Unidos
What the alert says:
- Those who “engage in certain transactions” with the designated cartels, including by knowingly providing material support, could face U.S. sanctions or civil or criminal penalties.
- Financial institutions that knowingly facilitate “a significant transaction” or provide significant financial services to a designated cartel could face U.S. sanctions.
- Companies and other organizations with operations in areas where the cartels are active “should assess their existing sanctions compliance programs to ensure controls are sufficient to minimize sanctions exposure for interacting with such designated terrorist organizations.”
Both Hernandez Perez’s designation and the OFAC alert followed Saturday’s deportations to El Salvador of more than 200 migrants who the Trump administration said were members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
Keep up: Kharon is hosting a QuickTake webinar Thursday, March 26, on the U.S. government’s intensifying efforts to disrupt the supply chains fueling the fentanyl crisis. Join our experts as they walk through key strategies for identifying exposure to fentanyl procurement networks and understanding the implications of recent legislative and regulatory actions.
Read more:
