The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced financial sanctions on three Mexican nationals and two Mexico-based entities allegedly involved in a drug trafficking and fuel theft network linked to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). The sanctions have been coordinated through the Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in conjunction with multiple federal law enforcement agencies. The intent is to disrupt the CJNG cartel’s ability to continue reaping profits from fentanyl trafficking and large-scale fuel smuggling activities.
According to the Department of the Treasury, the targeted network in the sanctions action generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually, benefitting the CJNG cartel, through a slew of criminal activities, including fentanyl trafficking, fuel theft, and smuggling stolen crude oil from Mexico across the southwest border.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent commented on the whole-of-government effort to attack the cartel’s network operatives, saying, “Fuel theft and crude oil smuggling are cash cows for CJNG’s narco-terrorist enterprise, providing a lucrative revenue stream for the group and enabling it to wreak havoc in Mexico and the United States. Treasury, as part of the Administration’s whole-of-government effort, will continue to use all available tools to relentlessly target drug cartels and foreign terrorist organizations to Make America Safe Again.”
The coordinated sanctions action, which included cooperation with U.S. federal law enforcement agencies, also involved the Government of Mexico. Several government agencies, including La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (UIF), Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit, worked with the Trump administration’s Department of the Treasury to implement the sanctions plan.
The actions announced on Thursday will also benefit Mexico, according to the Treasury Department. The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion is a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) as well as a violent Mexico-based drug trafficking organization. CJNG is responsible for a significant portion of fentanyl and other deadly drugs trafficked into the United States. Mexico-based drug trafficking cartels such as CJNG have turned to fuel theft and crude oil smuggling in recent years, resulting in billions of dollars in lost revenue for the Mexican government.
Criminal schemes conducted by CJNG have grown into powerful revenue generators, enabling their campaigns of narcotics trafficking in the United States and violence against Mexican government forces along the U.S. southwest border.
According to the Treasury, the theft of petroleum and fuel is the most significant non-drug revenue for Mexican drug cartels. The fuel theft operations involve a variety of means to steal large quantities of fuel and crude oil from Mexico’s state-owned energy company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex). The schemes primarily include bribing corrupt Pemex employees as well as illegally tapping into pipelines, stealing from refineries, hijacking tanker trucks, and threatening Pemex employees. Stolen fuel is sold on the black market around Mexico, the United States, and Central America.
Stolen crude oil is smuggled into the United States through complicit Mexican brokers and often mislabeled as “waste oil” or other hazardous material to avoid scrutiny and evade taxes and regulations. The stolen crude oil is then delivered to complicit U.S. importers in the oil and natural gas industry operating near the U.S. southwest border, who sell it at a steep discount on the U.S. and global energy markets before repatriating it.
In Thursday’s announcement, OFAC designated CJNG leader profiting from fuel theft, Cesar Morfin Morfin (a.k.a. Primito). According to the Treasury announcement, Primito is the leader of the CJNG cell in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Primito previously led a faction of the sanctioned Cartel del Golfo and transformed it into a CJNG faction due to his close association with sanctioned CJNG leader Ruben Oseguera Cervantes (a.k.a. “El Mencho”).
As extensively reported by Breitbart Texas Cartel Chronicles, Primito’s prominent role in cartel activities has been widely known for several years. Primito’s role in cartel activities includes the transportation, importation, and distribution of narcotics, including fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana, into the United States. He has also been known to import fentanyl and methamphetamine precursor chemicals sourced from China. Primito’s luxurious lifestyle has included ownership of exotic animals and dozens of luxury vehicles.
Primito’s role in the illegal fuel acquisition activities includes gathering stolen crude from various sources, including co-opted Pemex employees and other CJNG members. Given his control over port of entry bridges between the Tamaulipas and Texas border regions, Primito also charges fees to any trucks moving crude into the United States via these routes. His subordinates and associates help him falsify official customs documents to aid in the cross-border smuggling of stolen crude oil.
Another OFAC target is Cesar Morfin Morfin. The Treasury, under E.O. 14059 is targeting Morfin for having engaged in, or attempted to engage in, activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production as well as for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, CJNG. Cesar Morfin Morfin is also being targeted under the sanctions action for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, with C JNG.
In addition to Primito and Morfin, Thursday’s action targets additional operatives, including family members and business associates linked to the CJNG. According to the Department of the Treasury, Primito’s older brother played a leadership role within their Cartel del Golfo faction and helped to forge its alliance with CJNG.
Primito’s younger brother, Remigio Morfin Morfin, operates in Hidalgo, Mexico. He oversees plaza bosses and reports directly to Primito. In addition to narcotics trafficking, Remigio Morfin Morfin has also been involved in the theft of crude oil alongside his brothers.
Named in the targeted sanctions action by the Treasury include two hazardous materials transportation companies: SLA. Servicios Logisticos Ambientales, S.A. de C.V. and Grupo Jala Logistica, S.A. de C.V. These companies operate, directly or indirectly, for Primito, and have engaged in the transportation of fuel and crude oil between Mexico and the United States. Companies transporting crude oil on behalf of individuals linked to Mexican cartels serve a key function in the cartel fuel theft enterprise.
Since President Trump directed the federal government to pursue the total elimination of cartels and other Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), Treasury has leveraged its sanctions authorities and other tools to target Mexican cartels and other narcotics traffickers.
As a result of the sanctions announced on Thursday, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to the Department of the Treasury’s OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.
Violations of U.S. sanctions may result in the imposition of civil or criminal penalties on U.S. and foreign persons. OFAC may impose civil penalties for sanctions violations on a strict liability basis.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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