Sanctions Expose Ties Between Cartel del Noreste and Mexico’s Politicians

By “Karamazov” for Borderland Beat

On April 14th, OFAC sanctioned three individuals and two casinos related to the Northeast Cartel (CDN) in an effort to diminish the power of this foreign terrorist organization following its formal designation in 2025.

Casino activities have been linked to money laundering, as they are considered high cash-use activities. Two of the three connected individuals, Juan Pablo Penilla Rodríguez (Penilla) and Jesús Reymundo Ramos Vázquez (Ramos), are not directly linked to criminal activity; they are accused of presenting a legal front to the cartel before the government and civil society.

The first, Penilla, is a lawyer close to major drug kingpins such as the Treviño brothers and Mayo Zambada, as well as the new political class of the MORENA party. In 2023, Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal and Senators from MORENA, Amalia García Medina and Juan Carlos Loera de la Rosa, awarded him several distinctions, making him appear as a model citizen in front of society and giving him legitimacy within the political class.

Juan Pablo Penilla Rodríguez (Penilla) and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum. Image from when Sheinbaum was on the presidential campaign trail. Source: https://www.reforma.com/no-conozco-al-abogado-del-mayo-ni-hay-complicidad-csp/ar2959276

The second, Jesús Reymundo Ramos Vázquez, is a criminal rights defender who, since 2018, has been connected to the former Los Zetas and has received payments for denouncing officials for abuses and disappearances by SEMAR and SEDENA.

The third person accused by OFAC is the criminal leader Eduardo Javier Islas Valdez (Islas), a.k.a. “Crosty,” who, according to the accusation, is the regional leader responsible for human trafficking, drug transportation, and guarding all the stash houses in the Laredo region.

Amid the context in which the government denies the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), which has declared that forced disappearances in Mexico are carried out in a systematic manner, the same officials who are supposed to work to end forced disappearances have direct connections at every level with different criminal organizations.

This connection must be known to the general public, as forced disappearances in Mexico continue, and the persons who are supposed to be working to uphold the law and protect human rights are enabling those responsible for forced disappearances.

The scale of terror would not be possible without the help or complicity of the government, as extermination camps have been operating while security forces refuse to apply the rule of law. That is why it is essential to remove from power all these corrupt political actors that make it possible for cartels to operate with complete impunity. Sources: OFAC, Reforma This article was written by Karamazov for Borderland Beat