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The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two senior figures of the Mexico-based Cartel del Noreste, a group designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) earlier this year.
The sanctioned individuals are Miguel Angel de Anda Ledezma, alleged to oversee the cartel’s procurement of firearms and ammunition, and Ricardo Gonzalez Sauceda, identified as the organization’s former second-in-command before his arrest by Mexican authorities in February.
The Cartel del Noreste, a successor to the notorious Los Zetas, is implicated in various criminal activities, including drug and arms trafficking, human smuggling, and violent attacks. Notably, the group was responsible for a 2022 assault on the U.S. consulate in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, involving grenades and gunfire, following the U.S. arrest of one of its members.
“The Trump Administration is committed to dismantling cartels and holding them accountable for violence and terror,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement posted to X. “We will continue cutting off their access to drugs, money, and weapons to Make America Safe Again.”
These sanctions freeze the designated individuals’ U.S.-based assets and prohibit American entities from engaging in transactions with them. This action marks the fifth enforcement measure against cartels under the current administration, which has sanctioned 16 individuals and nine entities connected to such organizations.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control coordinated this action with Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
The Cartel del Noreste maintains a significant presence in Nuevo Laredo, a major commercial port on the U.S.-Mexico border, though its territorial control is more limited than that of its predecessor, Los Zetas.
The action follows efforts by U.S. federal prosecutors last week in an indictment charging two senior leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel with narco-terrorism, marking the first time such charges have been applied to members of a drug cartel.
Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, alleged leaders of the Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO), a group connected with the Sinaloa Cartel, face charges including narco-terrorism, providing material support to terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering.
