The United States imposed sanctions on two Guatemalan drug trafficking groups on Nov. 13 for supporting Mexican cartels that move narcotics into the country, the US Treasury Department said.
The action blocks their US assets and generally bars transactions involving them. The department announced the measures in its Nov. 13 statement, “Treasury Sanctions Guatemalan Drug Trafficking Organizations Supporting Mexican Narco-Terrorist Cartels.”
The department accused Los Mendoza of supporting the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Huistas of supporting both Sinaloa and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion. Both Guatemalan groups control trafficking routes along the country's borders with Honduras and Mexico, according to the department.
The groups receive, store, protect and transport drugs headed for the United States and other markets, the department said. Their Mexican partners use those services to move narcotics through Guatemala into Mexico for distribution abroad.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the action targeted links between politically influential Guatemalan criminal groups and Mexican organizations designated as terrorists. He said the department would continue targeting networks that help the cartels move drugs across US borders.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers US sanctions, targeted Los Mendoza under authorities covering international drug trafficking and support for terrorism. It sanctioned Los Huistas under the terrorism authority, having already imposed drug-related sanctions on the group on March 18, 2022.
In a coordinated action, the State Department is also designating Los Lorenzanas as a foreign terrorist organization and a specially designated global terrorist, the Treasury said. The State Department applied both designations to Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generacion on Feb. 20, 2025.
Los Mendoza began operating in the 1980s, the department said. The family-based group gives Sinaloa access to border crossings, secret airstrips, storage sites and local protection networks in Guatemala's San Marcos, Huehuetenango and Peten departments.
The department also accused Los Mendoza of contract killings and money laundering. It said the group built business interests through land seizures, cattle ranching, agriculture and property investments in Peten, Izabal and Guatemala's border region with Mexico.
Los Huistas has operated since the 1990s and helps move cocaine from South America through Mexico to the United States, the department said. Its ties to local businesspeople, police and politicians have helped protect its operations from law enforcement.
The asset freeze also covers entities owned at least 50% by blocked parties, individually or together, the department said. US persons must report blocked property to the sanctions office, and transactions generally require authorization or an exemption.
Foreign financial institutions that knowingly handle certain transactions for designated parties could also face restrictions on their access to US banking accounts, the department said. Sanctions violations can bring civil or criminal penalties.
