Action
Targets Powerful Guatemalan Drug Trafficker
WASHINGTON –
The
U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today
designated two key operatives connected to Waldemar Lorenzana Lima, one of
Guatemala’s most powerful drug traffickers, as Specially Designated Narcotics
Traffickers (SDNTs) pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act
(Kingpin Act). For years, Waldemar
Lorenzana Lima has used his businesses and agricultural holdings in La Reforma,
Zacapa, Guatemala as a front for the northbound movement of drugs through
Guatemala. Today, OFAC designated
Ovaldino Lorenzana Cordon and Marta Julia Lorenzana Cordon for their role in
the drug trafficking activities of their father, Lorenzana Lima as well as the Lorenzana
family’s extensive business network.
In
April 2010, OFAC designated Lorenzana Lima and three of his sons for their role
in facilitating the narcotics-trafficking activities of the Sinaloa Cartel in
Guatemala. Today’s action prohibits U.S.
persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with the eight
designated entities and two designated individuals, and freezes any assets they
may have under U.S. jurisdiction.
“Treasury
will continue to target major drug cartels wherever they are operating,
including family organizations that work together to traffic narcotics. Today’s designation of Marta Julia and
Ovaldino Lorenzana Cordon, members of one of Guatemala’s most significant crime
families, along with the Lorenzanas’ business network, allows us to continue
our efforts to dismantle transnational drug trafficking organizations operating
in Guatemala,” said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin.
The Lorenzana drug trafficking
organization plays a key role in facilitating cocaine trafficking between
Colombia and Mexico. Through their connections with Colombian suppliers, they
utilize their home country of Guatemala as a staging point for cocaine
shipments. Once the cocaine arrives in Guatemala, the Lorenzana family works
with the Sinaloa Cartel to traffic cocaine into Mexico and, eventually, the
United States. Guatemalan authorities arrested Lorenzana Lima and one of his
sons, Eliu Elixander Lorenzana Cordon, in April 2011 and November 2011,
respectively. They remain in custody pending extradition to the U.S.
The
designations announced today are the latest in a series of efforts by OFAC to
thwart transnational drug cartels, such as the Sinaloa Cartel, which are
responsible for distributing significant amounts of cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine
to the United States. President Obama identified the Sinaloa Cartel as a
significant foreign narcotics trafficker under the Kingpin Act in April 2009.
Today’s
action, supported by the Drug Enforcement Administration, is part of OFAC’s
ongoing efforts under the Kingpin Act to apply financial measures against
significant foreign narcotics traffickers worldwide. Internationally,
OFAC has designated more than 1,100 businesses and individuals linked to 97
drug kingpins since June 2000. Penalties
for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1.075
million per violation to more severe criminal penalties. Criminal
penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines
of up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10
million. Other individuals face up to 10 years in prison and fines for criminal
violation of the Kingpin Act pursuant to Title 18 of the United States Code.
View a chart of the Lorenzana organization..
###