Sanctions Against Businesses Linked to Mexican Cartels

By Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State

The United States is committed to preventing and combating narcotics trafficking globally.  The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) yesterday designated four Mexican businesses pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) due to their links to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and the Los Cuinis Drug Trafficking Organization (Los Cuinis), two of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Mexico.  This action reinforces the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) efforts through Project Python, a nationwide operation to disrupt CJNG through a series of coordinated arrests, seizures, and indictments.

The designations include:  International Investments Holding S.A. de C.V.; GBJ de Colima, S.A. de C.V., a gas station company located in Villa de Alvarez, Colima, Mexico; Corporativo Sushi Provi, S. de R.L. de C.V.; and Master Reposterias Y Restaurantes, S.A. de C.V.  In addition to these designations, OFAC identified Cabanas La Loma en Renta and Cabanas La Loma Tapalpa, two new names for a cabin rental business located in Tapalpa, Jalisco, Mexico that was designated on September 17, 2015 for providing material assistance to CJNG drug trafficking activities.

The Kingpin Act blocks all property and interests in property within the United States, or within the possession or control of any U.S. person, which are owned or controlled by designated individuals or entities.  The Kingpin Act also generally prohibits transactions or dealings by U.S. persons, or persons within the United States, in property or interests in property of designated individuals or entities.

The United States is committed to working with our partners in Mexico and throughout the region to address the production, trafficking, and use of illicit drugs as a top foreign policy priority.  Through targeted foreign assistance, diplomatic engagement, and tools such as the Kingpin Act and the State Department’s Narcotics Rewards Program, the United States will continue its whole-of-government effort to deny foreign narcotics traffickers access to the U.S. financial system and to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations that threaten the health and welfare of Americans.