A $10 million reward has been issued information that would lead to the arrest and/or conviction of Guatemalan drug kingpin, Eugenio Dario Molina-López, the U.S. Department of State announced Friday.
Molina-López is accused of leading the Los Huistas drug trafficking organization and carving an alliance with Mexico’s two most powerful criminal organizations to flood American streets with deadly drugs.
Along with the ransom for Molina-López, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control revealed sanctions against Moline and the organization, cartel co-founder Alec Baldoremo Samayoa-Recinos, five other cartel members and a coffee company owned by Molina-López.
U.S. federal authorities allege the Los Huistas have been operating along the Guatemala-Mexico border since 2012.
The U.S. Department of State issued Friday a $10 million reward for information that will lead to the arrest and/or conviction of Eugenio Darío Molina-López, leader of Guatemalan drug cartel, Los Huistas
Los Huistas, a Guatemala-based cartel, aligned itself with Mexican rival drug trafficking organizations, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel
Guatemalan cartel Los Huistas has operated since 2012, sending cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from its base in the northern region of Huehuetenango into Mexico, where the narcotic shipments are later sent across the southern United States border and distributed throughout cities in the country
The group is aligned with rival Mexican organizations, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel.
Cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine is trafficked from the Los Huistas’ base in the northern Guatemalan region of Huehuetenango into Mexico, where the narcotic shipments are later sent across the southern United States border and distributed throughout cities in the country.
‘Criminal groups such as the Los Huistas DTO (drug trafficking organization) contribute to instability in Guatemala and the region,’ said Brian Nelson, under secretary for the Treasury’s Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
Molina-López reportedly heads the Los Huistas’ day-to-day operations and is hands on with the trafficking of multiple tons of cocaine from South and Central America into Mexico.
Los Huistas cartel co-founder Alec Baldoremo Samayoa-Recinos was sanctioned by the Department of Treasury on Friday. He is accused of coordinating the shipments of cocaine that are sent from Huehuetenango to the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
He was indicted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on several drug trafficking charges related to an operation led by Homeland Security Investigation.
‘This reward offer complements a Department of Justice indictment against Molina and other co-conspirators, as well as a Department of the Treasury action taken by the Office of Foreign Assets Control to impose financial sanctions on Molina and other individuals and entities associated with Los Huistas under Executive Order 14059,’ U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said. ‘This is another example of the U.S. government’s coordinated approach to fighting transnational organized crime in Central America.’
Samayoa-Recinos is accused of coordinating the shipments of cocaine that are sent from Huehuetenango to the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
He is also involved in laundering the cartel’s drug proceeds. In 2018, he was indicted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia indicted for drug trafficking as part of an investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Samayoa-Recinos is also on Guatemala’s most wanted list for his purported involvement in drug trafficking, murder, and money laundering.
The cartel reportedly controls poppy fields located in the Guatemalan departments of Huehuetenango and San Marcos. It also imports precursor chemicals from China which are used produce methamphetamine.
The organization has a centralized and hierarchical that reportedly launders money.
Werner Dario Molina-Montejo, the son of the Los Huistas cartel co-founder Eugenio Darío Molina-López, supports his father’s “business affairs,” according to the U.S. Department of Treasury
Freddy Arnoldo Salazar-Flores is a a member of the Guatemala’s parliament and is accused of shipping and storing cocaine for the Los Huistas
The Department of Treasury levied sanctions on Axel Bladimir Montejo-Saenz, Molina-López’s son-in-law, and Freddy Arnoldo Salazar-Flores, Samayoa-Recinos’s son-in-law.
According to the government, Montejo-Saenz is a top ranking leader in the cartel and organizes the shipment of drugs to the United States. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California indicted him in 2017 on drug trafficking charges based upon an HSI-led investigation.
Salazar-Flores is identified as a member of the country’s parliament and is accused of shipping and storing cocaine for the cartel.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia indicted him in 2016 on drug trafficking charges stemming from a DEA investigation.
The Department of Treasury said both individuals were sanctioned “for having engaged in, or attempting to engage in, activities or transactions that materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production.”
Axel Bladimir Montejo-Saenz holds’s a senior leadership role in Los Huistas, a cartel from Guatemala. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California indicted him in 2017 on drug trafficking charges based upon an HSI-led investigation.
Molina-López’s son Werner Dario Molina-Montejo and Ervin Rene Moreno-Lopez were also sanctioned.
As a member of the cartel, Molina-Montejo supports his father’s “business affairs.”
Moreno-López is accused of providing accounting services to a company owned by Molina-López.
Both men “were designated for having acted or purported to act for and on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Los Huistas DTO,” the Department of Treasury said.
Samayoa-Recinos’ son, Roger Antulio Samayoa-Montejo, reportedly is a lieutenant in the cartel and arranges its operations.
He is sanctioned ‘for having acted or purported to act for and on behalf of Samayoa Recinos and Los Huistas DTO.’