The United States is tightening its grip on the Sinaloa Cartel, notably focusing on followers of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. On Tuesday, the State Department supplied a $5 million reward for Juan José “El Ruso” Ponce Félix, a cartel chief based mostly in Culiacán. Authorities accuse him of drug trafficking — primarily cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin — in addition to arms trafficking and bribing authorities, police, and army officers with $1 million per thirty days to keep up operations in Sinaloa, in response to a press release.
Ponce Félix started working for Zambada in 2012, in response to the DEA. At the time, he was liable for main “a fleet of cartel troopers” in Culiacán who carried out kidnappings, took hostages, and dedicated torture and homicide for the cartel’s profit at a ranch owned by El Ruso within the Sinaloa capital. Over time, Ponce Félix fashioned a gaggle generally known as Los Rusos, the armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel loyal to Zambada in Culiacán. The State Department says that the DEA and FBI have tracked him for over a decade, and their investigations point out that Ponce Félix traffics narcotics value hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. He can also be accused of transferring drug proceeds again to Mexico.
His different operations embrace firearms trafficking, and he’s accused of kidnapping, torture, and homicide “as mechanisms to keep up his energy and management over this helpful territory alongside the U.S.-Mexico border.” Ponce Félix can also be accused of participating within the Sinaloa Cartel’s “public corruption schemes” and is alleged to have bribed numerous Mexican authorities officers, police, and army personnel with over $1 million per thirty days to “preserve his drug distribution enterprise,” in response to the assertion.
The State Department identifies Ponce Félix as one of many Sinaloa Cartel leaders who broke agreements with the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, generally known as Los Chapitos, triggering the violent factional warfare that has plagued Sinaloa for the previous 12 months. Authorities say that in the course of the 10 years they’ve been monitoring him, El Ruso has been formally charged 4 instances in two totally different California judicial districts.
The multimillion-dollar reward for info resulting in Ponce Félix’s arrest marks the most recent transfer by the U.S. in its marketing campaign towards Mexican cartels and fentanyl trafficking. The posting of his wished discover coincides with the White House sending a presidential dedication to Congress figuring out 23 international locations as drug producers or transit factors. In addition to Mexico, Washington listed the Bahamas, Belize, China, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Afghanistan, Bolivia, Myanmar, Colombia, and Venezuela. The final 5 had been particularly criticized for failing to fulfill “their obligations beneath worldwide counternarcotics agreements.”
However, the U.S. authorities acknowledges Mexico’s efforts within the struggle towards narcotics. “President Claudia Sheinbaum has elevated cooperation to confront the highly effective cartels that poison each our international locations with medicine and violence,” the doc states, citing the deployment of 10,000 National Guard personnel to the border, fentanyl and precursor chemical seizures, and the extradition of 29 criminals — together with main drug lords — to the United States for trial.
The presidential dedication continues: “My administration has labored carefully with President Sheinbaum to attain probably the most safe southwest border in historical past, saving lives and defending communities from the scourge of fentanyl. This surge in Mexico’s efforts have to be sustained and institutionalized.”
The doc additionally argues that “far more stays to be achieved by Mexico’s authorities to focus on cartel management, together with their clandestine drug labs, precursor chemical provide chains, and illicit funds.” The White House expects to see “further, aggressive efforts” from Mexico over the subsequent 12 months, including that, to fight the menace to nationwide safety, the United States will use their “personal sovereign authorities” if obligatory.
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