US Cracks Down on Notorious Mexican Cartel with Severe Sanctions

Key Takeaways:

• The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL) for its involvement in fuel and oil theft in Mexico.
• CSRL’s activities have led to violence and corruption in Mexico, as well as the undermining of legitimate U.S. oil and natural gas companies.
• The cartel’s leader, Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz, has also been sanctioned and is currently in prison, but still active in the organization.
• The U.S. government has designated CSRL as a significant transnational criminal organization and has imposed sanctions on its members and affiliates.
• The sanctions aim to disrupt the cartel’s financial operations and prevent it from accessing the U.S. financial system.

Introduction to the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima
The Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL) is a notorious Mexican transnational criminal organization that has been involved in various illicit activities, including fuel and oil theft, narcotics trafficking, and violence. The cartel’s origins date back to 2014, and it is named after the community where its original members are from: Santa Rosa de Lima in Guanajuato. CSRL’s primary source of revenue is fuel and oil theft, which it carries out through various means, including bribing corrupt employees of Mexico’s state-owned energy company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), and illegally drilling taps into pipelines.

Fuel and Oil Theft: A Lucrative Business for Mexican Cartels
Fuel theft, including crude oil smuggling, is a significant non-drug revenue source for Mexican cartels. Thieves in Mexico, known as huachicoleros, use various methods to steal fuel and crude oil from Pemex, including hijacking tanker trucks and threatening Pemex employees. The stolen fuel is sold on the black market around Mexico, the United States, and Central America, while the stolen crude oil is smuggled into the United States through complicit Mexican brokers and often mislabeled as "waste oil" or other hazardous material to avoid scrutiny and evade taxes and regulations. This illicit activity has led to billions of dollars in lost revenue for the Mexican government and has undercut legitimate oil and natural gas companies in the United States.

The Cartel’s Involvement in Violence and Corruption
CSRL’s activities have led to violence and corruption in Mexico, particularly in the state of Guanajuato, where the cartel is based. The cartel’s turf war with the Jalisco Nuevo Generacion (CJNG) cartel has made Guanajuato one of the deadliest states in Mexico. CSRL has also been involved in narcotics trafficking, including trafficking heroin into the United States. The cartel’s leader, Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz, has been sanctioned and is currently in prison, but still active in the organization. Despite his arrest, El Marro continues to send instructions and orders to his collaborators through his lawyers and family members.

The U.S. Government’s Response to the Cartel’s Activities
The U.S. government has taken several steps to disrupt the cartel’s financial operations and prevent it from accessing the U.S. financial system. On February 20, 2025, the U.S. Department of State designated CJNG as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). On May 1, 2025, OFAC sanctioned three Mexican nationals and two Mexico-based entities involved in a drug trafficking and fuel theft network linked to CJNG. The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has also issued an alert providing financial typologies and red flags indicative of crude oil smuggling schemes on the U.S. southwest border associated with CJNG and other Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations.

Sanctions Implications
As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked persons. Violations of U.S. sanctions may result in the imposition of civil or criminal penalties on U.S. and foreign persons.

Conclusion
The sanctions imposed on CSRL and its leader, Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz, are a significant step in the U.S. government’s efforts to disrupt the cartel’s financial operations and prevent it from accessing the U.S. financial system. The sanctions aim to bring about a positive change in behavior and to prevent the cartel from continuing its illicit activities, including fuel and oil theft, narcotics trafficking, and violence. The U.S. government will continue to work with its Mexican counterparts to combat transnational organized crime and to protect the American people from the harm caused by these criminal organizations.