And while everyone in officialdom is smiling and glad-handing with Uncle Sam, the Trump Administration has cast a frown on Guatemalan cartels.
The US government has formally designated three major Guatemala-based drug-trafficking organizations as terrorist entities, with accompanying Treasury sanctions.
In a press statement issued today, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump Administration is imposing terrorist designations against Los Lorenzanas, Los Huistas, and Los Mendoza.Washington accuses all three criminal networks of maintaining deep operational ties with Mexican drug cartels to move and export illicit narcotics across the region.
Under the coordinated action, the U.S. Department of State designated Los Lorenzanas-described by Rubio as one of Guatemala's most powerful drug-trafficking clans-as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). U.S. officials hold the group responsible for widespread violence against civilians, government officials, and military forces in Guatemala.
Notably, in its official filing, Treasury lists the Los Mendoza Drug Trafficking Organization as operating across Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize.
According to the Treasury Department, Los Mendoza-a family-based syndicate founded in the 1980s-serves as a critical transportation and logistics intermediary for the Sinaloa Cartel. U.S. officials say the network facilitates clandestine airstrips, storage facilities, local protection networks, and cross-border smuggling routes in Guatemalan departments that include Petén and Izabal-the two regions directly bordering Belize to the west and south.
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