OFAC Designates Valenzuela Drug Trafficking Organization
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added three individuals and four entities to its Specially Designated Nationals list in connection with alleged narcotics trafficking, according to an Oct. 19 notice.
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The designations involve the Valenzuela Drug Trafficking Organization (Valenzuela DTO), which has evolved into a sophisticated network involved in the importation and transport of large quantities of drugs, including methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl, from Mexico to the U.S., OFAC said. Juan Francisco Valenzuela Valenzuela is a last remaining leader of Valenzuela DTO following the arrest of his siblings in 2020 and 2021. The other two designees are Mexican nationals involved in the international proliferation of illicit drugs with the use of three Mexico-based transportation companies, also designated.
“The Valenzuela drug trafficking organization fuels the ongoing drug epidemic we face in the United States which has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually,” Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in an Oct. 19 news release. “Starving this network of resources will help deprive the Sinaloa Cartel of critical support it needs to traffic its dangerous illicit drugs.”
OFAC said the action was a result of ongoing collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations San Diego Strike Force Group, CBP’s National Targeting Center and the Mexican government.