The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury sanctioned the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL) and its leader, Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz, alias "El Marro," whom it accuses of directing a vast drug trafficking operation from prison. A fuel theft and smuggling network that operates primarily in the Mexican state of Guanajuato and has become one of the main sources of income for organized crime. The Treasury Department reported that the CSRL was formally classified as a transnational criminal organization, while Yepez Ortiz was sanctioned individually under Executive Order 13581. The measure entails freezing all assets and financial interests in the organization that are in the United States or under the control of U.S. citizens. “President Trump promised to completely eradicate drug cartels to protect the American people. Under my direction, the Treasury Department is aggressively cutting these criminals off from the U.S. financial system. No matter where or how the cartels generate and launder money, we will find them and stop them,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. With these sanctions, the United States seeks to financially cripple the organization and curb its illicit business. which, he warns, fuels violence and corruption on both sides of the border. According to authorities, “El Marro” maintains control of the group despite being incarcerated in a maximum-security prison, using family members and lawyers to transmit operational orders and consolidate criminal alliances, including with the Gulf Cartel, with the goal of confronting the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz, before his arrest in 2020, was one of Mexico's most wanted criminals due to CSRL's industrial-scale oil theft. In 2022, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison after being found guilty of kidnapping.He still faces charges of organized crime, money laundering, illegal fuel extraction, attempted murder, and other offenses.

“Huachicol,” a multi-billion dollar business

The Treasury Department emphasized that fuel theft, known in Mexico as huachicol, is currently the most lucrative non-drug-related source of illicit income for Mexican cartels. These activities, he warned, fuel a cross-border black market for energy that directly affects U.S. oil and gas companies and deprives the Mexican state of billions of dollars in revenue. According to Washington, fuel stolen from Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is sold in Mexico, the United States, and Central America, while crude oil is smuggled into the United States through intermediaries, sometimes falsely labeled as “used oil” to evade controls and regulations. A regional cartel that sowed violence: The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel emerged in 2014 in the community of the same name, in the municipality of Villagran, Guanajuato, and consolidated its power under the leadership of “El Marro.” Unlike other groups focused on international drug trafficking, the CSRL began as a regional organization specializing in the illegal tapping of Pemex pipelines. Its power was consolidated thanks to

The violent conflict between the CSRL and the other criminal organization known as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) for control of fuel and oil in Guanajuato has made the state one of the deadliest in Mexico.

Despite the capture of its leaders, the group has survived by diversifying its activities into extortion, cargo theft, and drug dealing.

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