Los Chapitos' Head Global Fentanyl Cartel, US Says

“Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

The United States announced its most important global campaign against drug trafficking in history and it is against the Sinaloa Cartel for fentanyl trafficking.

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's sons are wanted by US authorities.

The United States announced its most important global campaign against drug trafficking in history and it is against the Sinaloa Cartel for fentanyl trafficking.

In total, five indictments were unsealed against 28 people, including four of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán's sons, who are accused of heading the Los Chapitos cell.

"Families and communities across our country are being devastated by the fentanyl epidemic. Today's actions demonstrate the comprehensive approach the Department of Justice is taking to disrupt the trafficking of that drug and save lives," explained U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

According to the documents, the Sinaloa Cartel has led the trafficking of fentanyl to the United States and 45 countries since 2014, when the group created its first laboratory in Mexico under Chapo's son Ovidio, and has a presence in 45 countries.

"Today's indictments send a clear message to Los Chapitos, the Sinaloa Cartel and criminal drug networks around the world: the DEA will not stop to protect the national security of the United States and the health of Americans," the Drug Enforcement Administration said.

The documents detail how the cartel became more powerful through the purchase of weapons, the use of hitmen to protect themselves, and even how they tested and "cooked" fentanyl in their laboratories, which are located in various states such as Sinaloa and Oaxaca and in other countries such as Guatemala.

However, investigations indicate that the precursor chemicals are sent from China with the mediation of other people, including Guatemalans.

In addition to the accusations, presented in three different courts, in New York, Illinois and the District of Columbia, the Treasury Department announced the sanctioning of two Chinese companies and the indictment of four Chinese citizens and a woman resident of Guatemala, currently under arrest, for belonging to the network through which the cartel obtained material to create fentanyl.

"Crisis begins in China".

According to the judicial file, filed in the Southern District Court of New York, Ana Gabriela Rubio Zea, currently detained, was the cartel's intermediary with Chinese businessmen to obtain precursor chemicals. From Guatemala, she coordinated the purchase and shipment, boasting: "We are the biggest in Mexico, so we can buy a lot.

In China, Yonghao Wu, Yaqin Wu and Kun Jiang were the suppliers. They worked with Huatao Yao, owner of Wuhan Shuokang Biological Technology or SK Biotech, a pharmaceutical company that supplied the chemicals.

Payments were made with cryptocurrencies or bank transfers. The businessman assured the cartel, "since we dare to sell this, it means that our resources and channels are not a problem." In other words, the shipments, marked with false labels and for which port authorities were paid for free passage, would arrive at their destination.

The United States says that once they arrived at their destination, they were sent to laboratories, mostly in Sinaloa, to create the drug that left more than 70,000 people dead from overdoses in that nation in 2022.

The information was obtained by U.S. authorities who infiltrated the cartel. As a result, in addition to the defendants, SK Biotech and Suzhou Xiaoli Pharmatech Co., which in 2021 made a shipment of precursor chemicals to Sinaloa, were included in the list of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Celebrate efforts

The White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State celebrated the global effort against the Sinaloa Cartel and its fentanyl trafficking network.

In a statement, President Joe Biden's Homeland Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, called the actions taken by the Justice Department, along with the FBI and the DEA, "historic and significant".

In a statement attributed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he said the actions "demonstrate the resolve of the United States to promote criminal accountability for illicit fentanyl activity".

While Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas assured that "the administration is taking action against the cartels and their transnational criminal networks".

Identified

The brothers Leobardo and Martín García Corrales claim to have been "long-time friends" of El Chapo, to the point of hiding him after his escape from prison in 2001. Today they are accused, along with Humberto Beltrán and Anastacio Soto, of trafficking fentanyl and weapons for Los Chapitos.

Investigations suggest that, as operators of a Jalisco Cartel cell, they negotiated the purchase and sale of fentanyl in Mexico. For example, in August 2022, Leobardo said he had a ton of the drug and offered to send it "to New York for $15,000 per kilo.

Meanwhile, his brother Martin met with Humberto Beltran to discuss how to sell several kilos of fentanyl in the United States. They then acquired weapons, which brought Anastacio into the game; some were exchanged for 33 kilos of the opioid in February 2023, in Los Angeles.

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