US targets Mexico-based human smuggling leader, issues alert for financial institutions
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Assets Control (‘OFAC’) sanctioned Jumilca Sandivel Hernandez Perez, identified as a key leader of the Guatemala-based Lopez Human Smuggling Organization responsible for smuggling thousands of migrants across the US southern border. OFAC also issued an alert about sanctions and criminal liability risks for financial institutions with exposure to international cartels recently designated as terrorist organisations.
‘Today’s action underscores the Trump Administration’s commitment to targeting the criminal actors like Hernandez Perez and the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization, that perpetuate the illegal migration crisis and threaten the safety and security of Americans,’ said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, 18 March.
OFAC issued an alert the same day to raise awareness of recent terrorist designations of international cartels and the resulting sanctions and criminal liability risks for US and foreign financial institutions with exposure to these organisations.
The alert follows President Trump’s 20 January Executive Order 14157, ‘Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists,’ and the subsequent designation by the US Department of State of eight organisations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (‘FTOs’) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (‘SDGTs’) on 20 February.
The designated groups include Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generaci6n, Cartel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cartel de Golfo (Gulf Cartel), and Carteles Unidos. With the exception of the newly designated Carteles Unidos, these entities were already designated under other OFAC authorities.
Meanwhile, Treasury said Hernandez Perez has coordinated her illegal activity with members of the violent US-sanctioned drug trafficking organisation, La Linea, which is responsible for the November 2019 murders of nine American citizens, including six children, in the Mexican state of Sonora.
On 17 July 2024, a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the District of New Mexico returned an indictment against Hernandez Perez and other members of the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization (‘HSO’) for their role in a conspiracy to transport and harbour illegal aliens.
‘Members of the Lopez HSO, including Hernandez Perez, have ex oited the U.S. financial system with their criminal activity, utilizing U.S. banks to receive and issue payments as part of their human smuggling operations,’ Treasury said.
As a result of the designation, all property and interests in property of the designated persons in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC, which also noted that persons engaging in certain transactions with the designated cartels may themselves be exposed to sanctions and to civil or criminal penalties.
The alert warns that foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate a significant transaction or provide significant financial services for any of the designated organisations could be subject to US correspondent or payable-through account sanctions, pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended.
The alert advised: ‘Companies and other organizations with operations in, or exposure to, high-risk jurisdictions, particularly those in which the designated cartels are active, should assess their existing sanctions comiance programs to ensure controls are sufficient to minimize sanctions exposure for interacting with such designated terrorist organizations.’
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0051
https://ofac.treasury.gov/media/934096/download?inline
