US Sanctions Up Ante in Hunt for Guatemala's Huistas
/23 MAR 2022 BY ALEX PAPADOVASSILAKIS
The United States government has taken major actions against one of Guatemala’s most enduring drug clans – the “Huistas” – whose leaders have spent years evading authorities from both countries. On March 18, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against the group and seven of its core members, while the State Department offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of top Huistas leader, Darío Molina López.
The Huistas are a drug trafficking clan based in Guatemala’s western province of Huehuetenango. The group has been active in the narcotics trade since the late 1990s and its members have been targeted by United States and Guatemala authorities since the late 2010s.
The Treasury Department sanctioned Molina López and fellow Huistas leader, Aler Samayoa Recinos, for allegedly engaging in drug trafficking over several years. According to a press statement outlining the measures, Molina López oversees all of the Huistas drug trafficking operations and Samayoa Recinos manages a cocaine-smuggling operation connecting western Guatemala to Mexico.
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The Huistas have long dominated drug trafficking along Guatemala’s western border with Mexico, fostering ties with major Mexican criminal groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel and now the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG), according to US authorities.
More:
https://insightcrime.org/news/us-sancitions-guatemala-huistas/