Secretary Bessent Orders Sanctions Against Violent Mexican Cartel

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL), which derives the vast majority of its illicit revenue from fuel and oil theft in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. The violent conflict between CSRL and the notorious Mexican terrorist Cartel Jalisco Nuevo Generacion (CJNG) for control of fuel and oil in Guanajuato has made the state one of the deadliest in Mexico. CSRL’s activities also help enable a cross-border energy black market, undermine legitimate U.S. oil and natural gas companies, and deprive the Mexican government of critical revenue. OFAC today also sanctioned Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz, the leader of CSRL. “President Trump made a promise to pursue the total elimination of drug cartels to protect the American people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “At my direction, the Treasury Department is aggressively cutting these criminals off from the U.S.