The United States offered a reward of $ 10 million on Thursday for any information allowing the arrest of Juan Jose Farias Alvarez, leader of the Mexican trafficking group Cartels Unis.
Juan Jose Farias Alvarez, nicknamed “El Abuelo” (the grandfather), is one of the five high-placed members of the United Cartels whose accusation acts were made public Thursday by the United States Ministry of Justice.
“The accusations brought today aim to dismantle the united cartels and to translate their leaders into a court for having sowed death and destruction among American citizens,” said Minister of Justice, Pamela Bondi, in a statement.
The US Treasury Department has simultaneously announced that it required sanctions on members of this group of cartels and another group known as Los Viagra.
“The Treasury will continue to target all the efforts made by the cartels to generate income intended to finance their violent criminal activities,” said US Secretary to the Treasury Scott Bessent.
In February, the US State Department appointed the United Cartels, based in the state of Michoacán, and other groups of drug traffickers, such as “foreign terrorist organizations”.
In addition to Farias Alvarez, awards of 3 and 5 million dollars each were announced for other senior officials of this group.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the United Cartels are one of the main suppliers of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine in the United States.
This announcement comes two days after Mexico transferred 26 fugitives wanted in the United States, including several high-placed members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel and the Sinaloa cartel, the second transfer of this magnitude since the return of Republican Donald Trump to the White House in January.
Among the most eminent Mexican drug barons detained in the United States are the founders of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, sentenced to life imprisonment.
The United States has appointed in February the Venezuelan gang Tren of Aragua, the Mexican cartel of Sinaloa and six other groups of drug traffickers as terrorist organizations.
In March, in his speech to Congress, Donald Trump had promised to “war” the Mexican drug cartels, speaking of a “serious threat” for the “national security” of the United States.
He recently asked the army to prepare to target these South American drug cartels, according to American media.
