The United States on Thursday slapped new sanctions on relatives of Mexico’s notorious drug cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, this time targeting his second wife.
Seeking to tighten the squeeze on the fugitive head of the Sinaloa cartel, the Treasury Department said it was freezing the assets of his second wife, Griselda Lopez Perez, and banning Americans from doing any business with her.
It is the third time the Office of Foreign Assets Control “has targeted family members who act on behalf of Chapo Guzman,” said OFAC director Adam Szubin in a statement.
“This action builds on Treasury’s aggressive efforts, alongside its law enforcement partners, to target individuals who facilitate Chapo Guzman’s drug trafficking operations.”
Guzman’s first wife, Maria Alejandrina Salazar Hernandez, and several of his sons have been fingered in previous notices as the United States seeks to track down one of the world’s most wanted druglords.
Lopez Perez was being designated “for her role in the operations of Guzman’s drug trafficking organization, including her efforts to assist Guzman in evading justice,” the Treasury said in the statement.
“This is another strike against the brutal Sinaloa Cartel and Chapo’s wife, who has served as a major criminal facilitator on his behalf,” said Drug Enforcement Administration chief of financial operations John Arvanitis.
The billionaire Guzman, who escaped from a federal prison in January 2011, has a $5 million reward on his head in the United States and has long evaded US and Mexican authorities.
Lopez Perez, also known as Karla Perez Rojo, is the mother of one of Guzman’s sons, Edgar, who was killed in a shootout in May 2008.
In May this year, the Treasury Department also froze the assets of two other sons, Ivan and Ovidio, saying they had played “a significant role” in drug trafficking activities.
The Sinaloa cartel is one of Mexico’s most powerful organized crime groups.
US slaps sanctions on 2nd wife of Mexico druglord
