US freezes assets associated to 'El Chapo'

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury included Guadalupe Fernández Valencia and Jorge Mario Valenzuela Verdugo, lieutenants of the Sinaloa Cartel, in its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.

As a result of today's action, all of the assets of these two individuals in the jurisdiction of the United States are frozen, and U.S. citizens are forbidden to participate in any dealings with them.

As lieutenants of the Sinaloa cartel under the orders of Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar (son of "El Chapo"), Fernandez Valencia and Valenzuela Verdugo reinforce the power and influence of Guzmán Loera, according to the Acting Director of the OFAC, John E. Smith.

Today's action is a result of the publication in January of an indictment by the Office of the Federal Prosecutor in the Northern District of Illinois against the two, along other members of the cartel, including "El Chapo" and his son.

Native of Michoacán, Fernández Valencia moves both drugs and money for the cartel. She is also the sister of an associate of "El Chapo," Manuel Fernández Valencia, currently detained in the U.S.

Valenzuela Verdugo, on the other hand, is in charge of the drug distribution in the areas of Culiacán and Guadalajara.