Counter Narcotics and Counter Terrorism Designations

Additions:

The following entities have been added to OFAC’s SDN List:

• OFAC Programs:
  • FTO  Foreign Terrorist Organizations Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 597
  • SDGT  Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 594

LOS LORENZANAS

• AKA:
  • LORENZANA DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION
  • "THE LORENZANA CLAN"
  • "THE LORENZANA FAMILY"
• Address: Guatemala
• Secondary sanctions risk: section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as amended by Executive Order 13886
• Organization Type: Transnational Terrorist Group
• Target Type: Criminal Organization

Supplemental Information: No press release or same-day news coverage of this action was found. The following is background from earlier Treasury releases and does not explain the basis for today’s designation. Treasury has previously described the Lorenzana drug trafficking organization as playing a key role in moving cocaine between Colombia and Mexico, working with Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. OFAC designated Waldemar Lorenzana Lima and three of his sons in April 2010, and two more family members in November 2012, under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. The identity match rests on the organization name and its a.k.a. "Lorenzana Drug Trafficking Organization".

• OFAC Programs:
  • SDGT  Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 594
  • ILLICIT-DRUGS-EO14059  Executive Order 14059

LOS MENDOZA DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION

• Address:
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • Belize
• Secondary sanctions risk: section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as amended by Executive Order 13886
• Target Type: Criminal Organization
• Linked to: SINALOA CARTEL

Supplemental Information: No press release or same-day news coverage of this action was found, and no Treasury release on this group turned up. The only background found is third-party analysis. InSight Crime, a research group on organized crime, describes the Mendozas as a family group based in Guatemala’s Petén province that began in contraband and grew into one of Central America’s major drug trafficking organizations, and says much of the clan is thought to have left Petén or to use Belize as a refuge. This is not an OFAC or Treasury statement. That it describes the listed entity is an inference, based on the name and the overlap with the listed Guatemala and Belize addresses.

Amendments:

The following changes have been made to OFAC’s SDN List:

• OFAC Programs:
  • SDGT  Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 594
  • ILLICIT-DRUGS-EO14059  Executive Order 14059

LOS HUISTAS DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION

• Address:
  • Santa Ana Huista, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
  • San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
  • La Democracia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
• Secondary sanctions risk: section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as amended by Executive Order 13886
• Target Type: Criminal Organization
• Linked to:
  • SINALOA CARTEL
  • CARTEL DE JALISCO NUEVA GENERACION

Supplemental Information: No press release or same-day news coverage of this amendment was found. The following is background from Treasury’s March 2022 release and does not explain today’s changes. In that release, Treasury designated the Los Huistas drug trafficking organization and its leaders under E.O. 14059. It described the group as the dominant criminal structure in Guatemala’s Huehuetenango department, smuggling cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin to the United States using Mexican organizations including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion. Those are the same two groups OFAC now shows as Linked To parties.

List of Changes:

• Field Name: AKA
  • Deleted: "LOS HUISTAS DTO"
• Field Name: Secondary sanctions risk
  • Added: section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as amended by Executive Order 13886
• Field Name: Program Tags
  • Added: [SDGT]
• Field Name: Linked to
  • Added: SINALOA CARTEL; CARTEL DE JALISCO NUEVA GENERACION

Sources:

• Treasury Designates Guatemalan Drug Lords Allied with the Sinaloa Cartel as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (April 2010)
• Treasury Designates Lorenzana Family Members and Businesses Allied with the Sinaloa Cartel (November 2012)
• InSight Crime: Mendozas profile
• InSight Crime: Los Leones profile (Mendoza clan and Belize)
• Treasury Sanctions Guatemala’s Los Huistas Drug Trafficking Organization with Ties to Mexican Cartels (March 2022)