The American manhunt continues in Mexico. A few days after the death of El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco cartel and the biggest drug lord in the country, US authorities are now targeting two key figures from the Sinaloa cartel. In order to continue their crackdown on drug trafficking, the US State Department promised a $10 million reward on Friday, February 27, for any information leading to the Arzate-Garcia brothers (5 million each).
According to American authorities, the duo is at the head of a significant branch of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, highly influential in western Mexico, especially around the city of Tijuana. The criminal network exports large quantities of drugs to the United States and recruits gangs within the country to commit murders, according to T.J. Holland, interim special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego office, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
“Their days of leading cartels in money laundering and providing material support to a terrorist organization are numbered,” said James Nunnallee, special agent in charge of the DEA’s San Diego division. He added, “No cartel leader is untouchable.”
“La Rana” (The Frog), René Arzate-Garcia, is reportedly one of the heads of the Sinaloa cartel, presumed to be the leader of the organization in Tijuana. The 42-year-old man is suspected by the US to have connections with gangs on both sides of the border and is being pursued for “narco-terrorism.” The DEA accuses him of “importing thousands of kilograms of drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, and marijuana into the southern district of California” and of “laundering millions of dollars earned from the sale of these drugs.”
His older brother, Alfonso Arzate-Garcia, also known as “Aquiles” (Achilles), is suspected of aiding in controlling the “Tijuana corridor,” a route for drug trafficking and narcotic violence to the United States. “When I told them they were no longer hunters, but the hunted, it was not a threat. It was a certainty,” stated Adam Gordon, US prosecutor for the southern district of California.
The downfall of El Mencho has plunged Mexico into chaos in recent days. Suspected members of the Jalisco cartel have blocked roads, set vehicles on fire, attacked gas stations, shops, and banks in twenty Mexican states. 10,000 Mexican army soldiers have been deployed, and clashes with drug traffickers have resulted in nearly sixty deaths.
