The Joe Biden administration has sanctioned a network of Sinaloa Cartel members and associated entities for their involvement in the deadly and illegal trade in fentanyl and methamphetamine, supplying chemicals to “superlabs” that produce illicit drugs for the once-maintained cartel. run by the notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
In addition to sanctioning the two brothers who run the network, Ludim Zamudio Lerma and Luis Alfonso Zamudio Lerma, the US Treasury also sanctioned four other Mexican citizens and members of the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as six companies based in Mexico.
“The Zamudio Lerma brothers and their network enable the production of synthetic drugs that devastate the lives of Americans, while lining the pockets of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel,” said Andrea Gacki, director of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control. . “Depriving this network of access and resources will hinder the ability of the Sinaloa Cartel to produce and traffic the illicit drugs on which it depends.”
Wednesday’s action was “closely coordinated” with Mexican authorities and is part of a government-wide effort to curb the drug trade that kills thousands of Americans each year, according to a Treasury press release.
Other sanctioned members of the notorious cartel include Ludim Zamudio Lerma’s son, Ludim Zamudio Ibarra, and Luis Gerardo Flores Madrid, both for supplying illegal “precursor” chemicals known to be used in the manufacture of illicit drugs. They also sanctioned two laboratory operators: Ernesto Machado Torres and José Santana Arredondo Beltrán, according to the Treasury.
The six companies sanctioned this Wednesday are owned or controlled by the Zamudio family and include two companies involved, or likely involved, in drug trafficking, as well as two real estate businesses and two import-export businesses.
