The US imposes sanctions on five Mexicans linked to the Gulf cartel in Playa Bagdad

The United States continues to impose measures against alleged drug cartels and migrant smugglers. This time measures were announced against five Mexicans linked to the Gulf Cartel.

The United States Treasury Department announced on Tuesday sanctions against five Mexicans allegedly linked to the Gulf cartel who carried out illegal fishing and trafficked migrants and drugs in Playa Bagdad, the easternmost end of the border between Mexico and the United States.

According to US authorities, the Gulf cartel is dedicated to the illicit trade of red snapper and shark species caught in US waters and which are then exported to the United States, earning millions in profits.

The operations are carried out with light and fast boats that, in addition to being used for fishing, are common in the transport of illicit drugs and migrants.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the agency in charge of combating illicit financing and money laundering, indicated that two of those sanctioned, Ismael Guerra Salinas (alias “Mayelo”) and His brother Omar (alias “Samorano”) are the members of the Gulf cartel in charge of Playa Bagdad and control drug trafficking operations and migrant smuggling in boats across the Rio Grande (river). Big).

Another of those sanctioned is Francisco Javier Sierra Angulo (alias El Borrado), who, according to United States authorities, currently heads the Gulf cartel in Matamoros, another town on the border, and Raúl Decuir García (alias La Burra) and Ildelfonso Carrillo Sapien (aka El Chivo), owners of boat camps that supervise and allow fishermen to cross into US waters on behalf of the aforementioned cartel.