The United States is committed to eliminating narco-terrorist cartels that threaten the American people. As part of an ongoing crackdown, the Department of Justice, in coordination with the Homeland Security Task Force, recently unsealed five separate indictments for leaders and associates of Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación or (CJNG). The U.S. Department of State has announced new rewards totaling up to $102 million for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions, in any country, of these five associates and three additional leaders whose indictments were unsealed previously.
“It is time for America to wage war on the cartels,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Michael Gonzales. “CJNG is among the most violent and dangerous narco-terrorist organizations in our Hemisphere, and poisons American communities with illicit fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. … They are responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands, and including American citizens.”
Three of the indicted associates are also accused of targeting elderly Americans in an alleged time-share scheme.
The announcement includes $25 million for CJNG leader Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez, also known as “Pelón”. Pelón took power following the death of the cartel’s former head, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes or “El Mencho”. Seven other rewards ranging from $2 million to $15 million are offered for other high-ranking cartel members. The U.S. Department of State has also imposed visa restrictions on 65 individuals who are family members or close associates of persons linked to the cartel. Twenty-six of these individuals have now had their visas revoked.
Other reward offers include up to $15 million (an increase from up to $5 million) for Audias Flores Silva, a.k.a. “Jardinero”; up to $15 million each for Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytán, a.k.a. “Sapo,” and Oseguera Cervantes’ son-in-law, Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez, a.k.a. “Chorro”; up to $10 million each for Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, a.k.a. “Tripa,” Julio César Montero Pinzón, a.k.a. “El Tarjetas,” and Carlos Andrés Rivera Varela, a.k.a. “La Firma”; and up to $2 million for Griselda Margarita Arredondo Pinzón. These reward offers support U.S. law enforcement partners in crippling the organization’s leadership.
Last year, the Trump Administration designated CJNG as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
“We will use every tool at our disposal to hunt down, dismantle, and destroy these ruthless foreign terrorist organizations and to defend America from the violence and drugs that have torn apart families and communities,” said Assistant Secretary Gonzales.