Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently designated Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noreste, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cártel de Golfo, and Cárteles Unidos as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
“The intent of designating these cartels and transnational organizations as terrorists is to protect our nation, the American people, and our hemisphere,” asserted Secretary Rubio in a statement. “That means stopping the campaigns of violence and terror by these vicious groups both in the United States and internationally. These designations provide law enforcement additional tools to stop these groups.”
The banking system is central to the terrorist organizations’ business model, explained Secretary Rubio in a recent interview with Catherine Herridge. “All of these gangs have to operate by touching the banking system, by being able to buy, and in many cases by having business partnerships, whether it’s a warehouse they’re renting in the U.S. to distribute guns or distribute drugs, whether it’s someone who’s actually helping them launder money from what they’re making. In some cases, these guys set up their own companies, these shell companies, to hide their profits and be able to distribute the funds they have.”
Tren de Aragua is causing particular concern in the United States, noted Secretary Rubio. It was a prison gang in Venezuela that the regime of Nicolas Maduro pushed out of the country. “They terrorized Peru, they terrorized Ecuador, they terrorized all kinds of countries, and they worked their way up the migration path into the United States.” TdA runs human trafficking operations and targets Venezuelan migrant communities. “We’ve seen them take control of apartment buildings in Colorado. And now they’re being deported, and being deported because they’re identified with that organization,” said Secretary Rubio.
With regard to the cartels in Mexico, said Secretary Rubio, “the preference always is to work in conjunction with our partners in Mexico, and we can provide them a lot of information about who they are and where they’re located. If in the end, these people pose an imminent threat to the United States or cross into our borders and into the United States, then it gives us tools to go after them using law enforcement.”
These terrorist designations demonstrate the Trump Administration’s commitment to protecting U.S. national security interests and dismantling these dangerous organizations.
