WASHINGTON.- The United States sanctioned the Malas Mañas criminal organization for migrant and drug trafficking from Mexico, a country in which it operates under the umbrella of the Sinaloa cartel. This was reported this Thursday by the US government.
Malas Mañas traffics migrants, mainly from Guatemala and El Salvador, whom it illegally enters into the United States through the border with Mexico, the US Treasury Department stated in a statement.
Based in Sonora, in northwest Mexico, the organization is also dedicated to trafficking weapons and drugs, such as fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine, he adds.
The investigation by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) was carried out in coordination with the Mexican government, including its financial intelligence unit.
“Close collaboration with the Sinaloa cartel”
The US government estimates that the criminal organization is made up of hundreds of members, including hitmen, who often wear caps and T-shirts with the organization’s motto “SQLD” (short for “just make sure”) and the logo, an emblem on sun shape with a soldier in the center.
The founder of Malas Mañas, Román Figueroa, detained by Mexican authorities, works closely with the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, alias “Gigio.”
OFAC also sanctioned two people who work for Malas Mañas: Luis Eduardo Román Flores, brother of Román Figueroa, and Joel Alexandro Salazar Ballesteros.
As a result of the sanctions, all assets and interests in assets of those sanctioned that are in the United States or that are in the power or control of Americans are blocked.
The US Department of Justice also reported that on November 29, a federal jury formally indicted people linked to that criminal organization on 11 charges.
These are Mexicans Jorge Damián Román Figueroa, Luis Eduardo Román Flores, Manuel José Bernal, Joel Salazar Ballesteros and Jesús Armando González Villela, accused of human and drug trafficking and possession of a weapon.
“These defendants worked with the Sinaloa cartel to send fentanyl and other deadly drugs to the United States,” denounced the director of the United States Anti-Drug Agency (DEA), Anne Milgram, quoted in a statement.
Source: AFP
