The U.S. Treasury Department included this Wednesday in its list of international drug traffickers in Mexico Juan Manuel Abouzaid El Bayeh, As a high-level member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Abouzaid El Bayeh plays a “key” role in the drug trafficking and money laundering of the “violent criminal organization,” responsible for sending “a significant proportion of the fenanthyl” that is distributed in the United States, pointed out the Treasury in a statement.
In a statement, the Treasury Department reported that his Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) designated the Mexican El Bayeh, also known as “The Boy,” “The Scorpion” or “The Arab,” as a Specially Designated Narcotic Trafficker, d in accordance with the Kingpin Act.
With inclusion on the list of drug traffickers, Washington seeks to “alter” one of the major links in the CJNG’s leadership structure, said Foreign Asset Control Bureau Director Andrea M. Gacki.
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Abouzaid El Bayeh, currently a fugitive from justice, remains linked to the Mexican cartel of his boss, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes “El Mencho”, One of the most wanted drug traffickers in the world.
As a result, any assets it may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and financial transactions with U.S. entities are prohibited.
The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, arisen like a split of the Cartel of Sinaloa, operates in 25 of the 32 states of Mexico, although its greater presence is in those of Baja California, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Veracruz and Jalisco.
Juan Manuel Abouzaid The Bayeh is shareholder of the newspaper Unomásuno and Juan Manuel had already been linked in Mexico to the “El Mencho” cartel.
Since the end of 2018, the DEA has asked the Department of Justice to manage before Mexico the extradition of several members of the CJNG, including Juan Manuel Abouzaid and, as part of international collaboration agreements, the FIU secured bank accounts, the same ones that were thawed in 2020 as were those of its sister, Yamile.