Treasury sanctions Mexican cartel tied to murder of US Marine
The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Los Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, due to their involvement in the trafficking of fentanyl and their connection to the murder of U.S. Marine veteran Nicholas Quets in Mexico. The sanctions target associates and businesses associated with the cartel in Mazatlan, Mexico. This action follows Quets’ fatal shooting during a carjacking on October 18,2024,believed to be carried out by gunmen linked to the cartel. The Treasury specifically named Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, sons of the notorious cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, as fugitives leading Los Chapitos. Quets’ family has urged the U.S. government for the extradition of those responsible for his death, which they describe as a purposeful act of terror against an American citizen.
Treasury sanctions Mexican cartel ‘involved in’ murder of US Marine veteran Nicholas Quets
The Trump administration sanctioned Los Chapitos, a faction of the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel involved in the illegal production and trafficking of fentanyl into the United States and connected to gunmen who murdered a U.S. Marine veteran in Mexico last year.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Monday afternoon that it imposed sanctions on a regional network of Los Chapitos associates and businesses based in Mazatlan, a city in Mexico’s Sonora state.
The Treasury also designated Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, sons of imprisoned Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, as the two fugitive leaders of Los Chapitos.
The move came six months after U.S. Marine veteran Nicholas Quets was fatally shot when he was ambushed by another vehicle while driving on a northern Mexican highway to the beach on Oct. 18, 2024.
The Treasury cited “gunmen linked to the Sinaloa Cartel” as being “involved in” the murder of Quets. However, Quets’s family has continued to wait for the U.S. government to extradite the suspects for prosecution in the U.S.
“Secretary Bessent’s decisive action to target the Sinaloa Cartel’s financial networks strikes at the heart of this transnational threat,” Doug Quets, Nicholas Quets’s father, said in a statement provided by the Treasury. “Disrupting their ability to move money, launder profits, and bribe officials is essential to dismantling this criminal empire.”
“Cowards in cartel insignia — more than two dozen strong — pursued Nicholas and fatally shot him in the back, through the heart, during a failed carjacking, only after confirming his status as an American,” Doug Quets said. “This was not just murder — it was a deliberate act of terror against a known American citizen.”
Earlier this year, the State Department designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization following President Donald Trump’s executive order in January authorizing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to go after Latin crime rings involved in the cross-border smuggling of drugs, people, and other goods.
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Doug Quets applauded Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s actions and said they struck “at the heart of this transnational threat.”
“Disrupting their ability to move money, launder profits, and bribe officials is essential to dismantling this criminal empire,” he said.
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