4 CJNG Members Named As Targets By The US, Operating From Colima

Adyr Corral for Milenio

The following is a direct translation of an article written by journalist Adyr Corral for Milenio newspaper

Four alleged members of the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation (CJNG) who operate drug smuggling through the port of Manzanillo, Colima, and its surroundings, were included on the US Treasury Department's blacklist.  They are:

• Aldrin Miguel Jarquín Jarquín, alias "El Chaparrito", 45 years old;
• José Jesús Jarquín Jarquín, alias "El R32", 37 years old
• César Enrique Díaz De León Sauceda, alias "El Lobito", 34 years old
• Fernando Zagal Antón, 39 years old

According to intelligence information provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), they are among the highest ranking members of the CJNG. 

"They help coordinate CJNG drug trafficking operations through the port of Manzanillo and maintain contact with cocaine supply sources in Colombia," the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) indictment alleges. In June 2020 the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) blocked the bank accounts of these individuals due to their relationship with the CJNG. 

"The Jalisco Cartel - New Generation (CJNG) is a violent Mexican-based organization responsible for trafficking a substantial amount of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States," OFAC emphasized.

It added that the CJNG's strategy of expansion and control of drug trafficking territory, which includes Colima and the port of Manzanillo, owes its success in large part to violence employed against rivals and Mexican government security agents.  

The cartel, it noted, "is responsible for the June 2020 death of a federal judge in Colima, which has one of the highest per capita homicide rates caused in part by the CJNG's local drug trafficking operations," the agency said.

Note the stretched aspect ratio of Mencho's photos and lack of color correcting on La Gallina. 

Link to Full Sized US OFAC Chart

OFAC assured that the movement carried out in accordance with the Law for the Designation of Foreign Drug Traffickers or Kingpin Law, is part of the effort to "break" the CJNG, and the result of the continuous collaboration of the entity belonging to the Department of the Treasury and its partners in the US government, as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and its counterparts in the Mexican government, including the FIU. 

"The criminal success of the CJNG is due in part to its presence in strategic locations, such as Manzanillo. This Pacific coast port serves as a major gateway for Colombian cocaine and chemical precursors from Asia, including those used to synthesize fentanyl."

"The Treasury Department is committed to working with its US and Mexican partners to expose, isolate and dismantle CJNG members who operate in Manzanillo and elsewhere," OFAC Director Andrea Gacki said in this regard. 

In accordance with the Kingpin Law designation, these four signaled materially assist, or provide financial or technological support, goods or services in support of the CJNG.

In addition this fact, they maintain ties with individuals previously designated by the Treasury Department, since "they report to Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez, son-in-law of the leader of the CJNG, Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, 'El Mencho' ", assured the dependence. 

The designations made this Wednesday are the fifteenth action taken by OFAC against the CJNG, which began with the designation of the organization in April 2015, along with 'El Mencho', for their prominent roles in international narcotics trafficking. 

Source: Adyr Corral for Milenio