THE United States announced new sanctions yesterday against three alleged members of the Sinaloa cartel for their suspected role in the illicit trafficking of fentanyl and other deadly drugs.

“Today’s action targets key individuals responsible for facilitating the illicit trafficking of deadly drugs, including fentanyl, into the United States, where it wreaks havoc on our communities,” US Treasury official Brian E. Nelson said in a statement.

The sanctions target Alfonso Arzate Garcia and his brother Rene – alleged to be “plaza bosses” in Mexico’s Baja California – and Rafael Guadalupe Felix Nunez, who is alleged to be a cartel leader in Colima.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has made the fight against fentanyl a key priority, with the synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of deaths across the country in recent years.

Rahul Gupta, the White House’s National Drug Control Policy director, said the sanctions had been put in place “in cooperation with Mexico”.

The sanctions effectively freeze any US-based assets of the three individuals and prohibit transactions between them and US citizens or businesses.

The Treasury statement described Felix Nunez as a hitman-turned-cartel leader who escaped from prison in 2017 and is suspected of managing drug shipments out of the Mexican port town of Manzanillo.

The Arzate Garcia brothers are said to manage the Sinaloa cartel’s drug trafficking operations in the border town of Tijuana, managing the flow of fentanyl and other substances into the US, said the statement.

The Biden administration has stepped up the use of sanctions against suspected drug traffickers, with a 119% increase over last year’s total, based on White House figures. – AFP, August 10, 2023.