The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL), a criminal group based in Guanajuato, Mexico, known for large-scale fuel and oil theft. The group is involved in violent conflict with the Cartel Jalisco Nuevo Generacion (CJNG) over control of these illicit activities, contributing to high levels of violence in the region.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated, “President Trump made a promise to pursue the total elimination of drug cartels to protect the American people. At my direction, the Treasury Department is aggressively cutting these criminals off from the U.S. financial system. No matter where or how the cartels are making and laundering money, we will find it and we will stop it.”
Fuel theft—known as huachicol in Mexico—is a major non-drug revenue source for Mexican cartels. Criminals steal fuel and crude oil from Mexico’s state-owned energy company Pemex through bribery, illegal pipeline taps, refinery thefts, hijackings, and threats against employees. The stolen products are sold on black markets across Mexico, Central America, and into the United States. Some crude oil is smuggled into the U.S., mislabeled to avoid detection, then sold at discounted prices by complicit importers near the southwest border.
These operations result in billions of dollars lost for Pemex each year and create unfair competition for legitimate oil companies in both countries.
CSRL was founded in 2014 and operates mainly out of Santa Rosa de Lima in Guanajuato. The cartel declared war on CJNG in 2017 over control of an area with significant Pemex infrastructure. Recent law enforcement actions have led to arrests within CSRL and seizures including 164,000 liters of stolen hydrocarbons.
The ongoing turf war between CSRL and CJNG has been linked to increased violence in Guanajuato. CSRL has formed alliances with other criminal organizations such as the Gulf Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel—both designated as foreign terrorist organizations by U.S. authorities—and recruited former Colombian military personnel.
In addition to fuel theft, CSRL is involved in narcotics trafficking—including heroin smuggling into the United States.
OFAC also sanctioned Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz (“El Marro”), leader of CSRL. Although arrested in 2020 and sentenced to 60 years for kidnapping two years later, authorities say he continues to direct cartel activities from prison via intermediaries.
Both CSRL and Yepez Ortiz were designated under executive orders targeting transnational criminal organizations and their leaders.
Recent efforts by U.S. authorities include designating CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year; sanctioning individuals linked to CJNG’s fuel theft network; and issuing alerts about financial transactions tied to oil smuggling schemes along the southwest border. In response to these alerts, banks reported over $827 million in suspicious transactions between Mexico and states like Texas and Florida—often involving cities close to the border such as Brownsville or McAllen.
As a result of today’s action, all property belonging to those sanctioned that falls under U.S jurisdiction is blocked; Americans are generally prohibited from conducting business with them unless authorized by OFAC licenses or exemptions. Violations can lead to civil or criminal penalties under strict liability rules outlined by OFAC’s enforcement guidelines.
OFAC notes that its sanctions aim not only at blocking assets but also at encouraging changes in behavior among targeted entities or individuals.
