Mexico

La Linea began as an armed wing of the Juarez Cartel intended to help the drug trafficking organization defend its border territories in and around Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Today, La Linea operates in Ciudad Juarez, where it has access to drug trafficking and human smuggling routes across the U.S.-Mexico border. La Linea taxes other Mexican drug trafficking organizations to move their merchandise through the Juarez Valley and generates other revenue via synthetic drug trafficking, illegal logging, and car theft in Chihuahua, Mexico. Associates of La Linea are also involved in human trafficking across the United States. In November 2019, La Linea members murdered nine American citizens, including six children, in the Mexican state of Sonora. In addition, La Linea and the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) have been working together since September 2023, with CJNG serving as La Linea’s source-of-supply for cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. In 2004, the President identified the Juarez Cartel as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker pursuant to the Kingpin Act. On December 15, 2021, OFAC also designated the Juarez Cartel pursuant to E.O. 14059, at which time La Linea was added as an alias of the Juarez Cartel.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2704

2004-06-01

US

Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 598

OFAC-horizontal

Drugs

Blocking Property

The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 598 (FNKSR), implement the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (21 U.S.C. 1901–1908), which provides authority for the application of sanctions to significant foreign narcotics traffickers and their organizations operating worldwide.

SDN