The US government this Wednesday (15) imposed sanctions against criminal groups in Brazil, Mexico and China, and announced the creation of a Council on Transnational Organized Crime, which seeks to more quickly prosecute this type of activity.
Among those affected by the new sanctions, announced in statements by the Department of the Treasury and the White House, is the Brazilian First Command of the Capital (PCC), whose operations encompass South America, the United States and Europe.
US authorities also singled out as drug trafficking organizations two Mexican groups that emerged from the Beltrán Leyva cartel: Los Rojos and Guerreros Unidos, believed to be responsible for a large part of the heroin traffic from Mexico to the United States.
Washington also added to its list of drug kingpins the Chinese group Chuen Fat Yip, which heads a network in China dedicated to the sale of fentanyl and various precursor chemicals; and several Chinese companies involved in these operations: Wuhan Yuancheng Gongchuang Technology, Shanghai Fast-Fine Chemicals and Hebei Atun Trading.
As a result of the designation, any assets that these groups and companies may have under US jurisdiction are frozen. Those who are sanctioned are also prohibited from carrying out financial transactions with US citizens.
The new council, established by US President Joe Biden through an executive order, will include officials from the Departments of Justice, Treasury, State, Defense, Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
“Drug trafficking organizations are among the most significant and most resourceful threats facing the United States,” a senior US official, who requested anonymity, said in a telephone interview.
With the creation of the council, the source said, Washington seeks to have more “agility and flexibility” to prosecute these criminal networks that “increasingly function as international conglomerates” and whose operations represent “a risk to the stability and efficiency of markets and systems. financial”.
“The activities include large-scale corruption and violence, undermining the rule of law and endangering democratic governments,” he added.
The source also noted that these organizations “have moved away from hierarchical structures” and are “now more decentralized, with their financial agents having little contact with capos, which complicates tracking by the authorities.”
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