In Atlanta to promote actions on fentanyl, Yellen announces sanctions against the Mexican cartel

WASHINGTON — In Atlanta, to promote the Biden administration’s efforts to crack down on the importation of illegal drugs into the United States, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced new sanctions against members of a Mexican drug cartel accused of trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and migrants across the southern border. .

The sanctions include eight members of the La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug cartel, a notoriously violent group that is fighting for territorial control with a roster of other Mexican cartels.

Also Thursday, Yellen issued a notice to banks to help them identify and report suspicious transactions related to the sale and purchase of chemicals and equipment used to make fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

“Combating fentanyl trafficking is a significant challenge,” she said Thursday afternoon in a speech at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building in Atlanta. “This will not be resolved overnight. But let me be clear: the president and I will do everything we can to fight this crisis.”

The Nueva Familia Michoacana is among Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels, dominating large parts of southern and central Mexico, particularly areas known for drug production. It is known for manufacturing and distributing drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. The group is among those who have quickly launched into the increasingly lucrative sector of migrant smuggling, amid a historic wave of migration to the United States.

The cartel is based in the southern state of Guerrero and is often known as “The New Family of Michoacan”, to distinguish it from an older gang that has largely been forced out of the western state of Michoacan in the mid-2010s.

In 2022, the Biden administration sanctioned cartel leaders, known as the Hurtado brothers, for manufacturing “rainbow” fentanyl pills, which the U.S. Treasury Department said “were part of ‘a deliberate effort to create dependence in children’.

Yellen’s trip also comes after President Joe Biden signed the FEND off Fentanyl Act into law as part of the supplemental spending package signed in April, which declares, among other things, that international fentanyl trafficking is a national emergency.

Fentanyl, a powerful opioid, is the deadliest drug in the United States today. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drug overdose deaths in the United States increased sevenfold between 2015 and 2021.

Mexico and China are the main sources of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances shipped directly to the United States, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is responsible for combating illicit drug trafficking. Almost all of the chemical precursors needed to make fentanyl come from China.

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Janetsky contributed to this report from Mexico City.