The United States on Thursday unveiled a broad new sanctions package against more than 50 Mexican people and organizations accused of supporting one of Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficking groups, including a California-born man Washington identifies as the new leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, assumed control of the cartel — widely known by its Spanish initials, CJNG — after the February death of its former boss, “El Mencho.”
CJNG is regarded as an exceptionally violent Mexico-based paramilitary cartel, with alleged operations spanning extortion, money laundering and an international drug trafficking network.
Gonzalez, who is also known as “Pelon,” is the stepson of “El Mencho,” whose real name was Nemesio Oseguera. Mexican authorities said Oseguera was wounded and captured during a military operation in Jalisco state in February, then died from his injuries while being taken to a hospital.
His death triggered a major outbreak of cartel violence across Mexico, as CJNG members erected highway blockades and set vehicles and buildings ablaze in 20 of the country’s 32 states.
More than 70 people were killed in the unrest, among them 25 National Guard members.
Mexican officials said in April they had arrested two senior criminal figures, including Audias Flores Silva, known as “The Gardener.” Flores Silva had been described as Oseguera’s right-hand man and was widely seen as a possible successor to lead CJNG. He was arrested on April 27 while hiding in a ditch in the western state of Nayarit, and the U.S. Treasury identified him as one of Gonzalez’s deputies.
The Treasury Department said Thursday’s sanctions are intended to “disrupt a wide range of criminal activities benefiting CJNG across multiple Mexican states.”
In February 2025, the Trump administration designated the cartel as a foreign terrorist organization.
“Today’s action strikes Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion’s leadership, financiers, and criminal networks, denying the cartel the resources it uses to traffic fentanyl, terrorize communities, and threaten American lives,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
The statement added that Gonzalez is charged in a U.S. federal drug trafficking case in Washington, with the U.S. State Department offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction. According to the State Department, Gonzalez was born in Santa Ana, California, on Sept. 12, 1984.
U.S. State Department
The new sanctions target a wide range of individuals and companies that Washington says are linked to CJNG’s leadership through business or family ties and that are used by the cartel to launder or conceal their assets.
They also target an alleged cocaine trafficking network and a group of individuals and companies accused of involvement in Mexico’s huge fuel smuggling sector.
Last month, the U.S. Treasury announced a new bank alert targeting the cartel. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on two men and nine companies involved in transportation, financial services and real estate, accused of being tied to a cartel-linked fuel theft ring intended to evade Mexican taxes while generating tens of millions of dollars annually for the cartel.
contributed to this report.
