Ecuador

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Ecuador-based Los Lobos Drug Trafficking Organization (Los Lobos) and its leader Wilmer Geovanny Chavarria Barre (also known as “Pipo”). Numbering thousands of members, Los Lobos has emerged as Ecuador’s largest drug trafficking organization and contributes significantly to the violence gripping the country. This action builds on Treasury’s February 7 designation of Los Choneros—a prominent Ecuadorian drug gang—and comes as Ecuadorian criminal organizations backed by Mexico’s Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and Sinaloa Cartel continue to drive violence and instability in Ecuador. Los Lobos began as a group of hitmen working under their now-rival gang Los Choneros. The 2020 assassination of a Los Choneros leader left a power vacuum that Los Lobos and its allies filled by coordinating attacks against Los Choneros’ fragmented leadership, culminating in prison riots that left scores of inmates dead. Los Lobos has been involved in drug trafficking, murder-for-hire, and illegal gold mining and additionally provides security services for Mexico’s CJNG in support of CJNG’s efforts to dominate cocaine trafficking routes in Ecuador’s port city of Guayaquil. Los Lobos is also accused of orchestrating the assassination of 2023 Ecuadorian candidate Fernando Villavicencio. In September 2023, the Department of State issued an award of up to $5 million for information on unknown subjects responsible for Villavicencio’s murder. Wilmer Geovanny Chavarria Barre (Chavarria Barre) is a top leader of Los Lobos. During his imprisonment between 2011 and 2018, Chavarria Barre gained notoriety while managing a group of hitmen who operated as a sub-component of Los Choneros and assumed the name Los Lobos or “the wolves” before their rise as a powerful drug gang in their own right. In 2022, Chavarria Barre ordered the murder of his rivals Leandro Norero and Samir Maestre to seize control of their valuable drug trafficking routes. Chavarria Barre remains at large, with public reports suggesting he may have fled Ecuador under an assumed identity. OFAC designated Los Lobos pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14059 for having engaged in, or attempted to engage in, activities or transactions that materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production. OFAC designated Chavarria Barre pursuant to E.O. 14059 for being or having been a leader or official of Los Lobos.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2394

2024-06-06

US

Executive Order 14059 of December 15, 2021 Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade

OFAC-horizontal

Drugs

Blocking Property, Suspending Entry

President Biden signed a new Executive Order (E.O.) to modernize the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s sanctions authorities used to combat the illicit drug trade. This E.O. will provide the Treasury Department with new tools to tackle changes in the global illicit drug trade that substantially contributed to over 100,000 American overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending in April 2021. This E.O. enhances the Department of Treasury’s authorities to target any foreign person engaged in drug trafficking activities, regardless of whether they are linked to a specific kingpin or cartel. It further enables Treasury to sanction foreign persons who knowingly receive property that constitutes, or is derived from, proceeds of illicit drug trafficking activities. Under the new E.O., “Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade,” the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated 25 actors (10 individuals and 15 entities) in four countries for having engaged in, or attempted to engage in, activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production. “The illicit drug trade threatens our national security, economy, communities, and families,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson. “More than 100,000 Americans died in just twelve months from a drug overdose, a record 28 percent increase that was driven largely by synthetic opioids, particularly fentanyl. Using President Biden’s new E.O., Treasury will deploy its sanctions authority with greater speed, power, and effect across the entire illicit drug ecosystem, especially those who profit from the death and misery of the opioid epidemic. We will continue working closely with our partners to reduce threats from these groups and disrupt their business models, including by stopping them from using the U.S. financial system.” Today’s action targets individuals and drug trafficking organizations (DTO) based in Brazil, China, Colombia, and Mexico. Those sanctioned include individuals who traffic fentanyl, and its precursor chemicals, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, as well as organizations that pose the greatest drug threat to the United States. The new E.O. builds upon Treasury’s previous narcotics sanctions authorities, specifically E.O. 12978 (1995) and the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) (1999). Treasury designated eight individuals and entities under the new E.O. and is also applying the expanded tools of this authority to designate 17 individuals and entities previously sanctioned under other authorities.

SDN