US intensifies siege against ‘Los Mayos’ in Baja California, targeting Los Rusos and the Arzate García brothers’ network

The future of the power that Ismael El Mayo Zambada forged for the Sinaloa Cartel over decades in Baja California hangs in the balance after the leaders and collaborators of his two most important criminal cells in the state have become targets of the US government.

Juan José Ponce Félix, alias El Ruso, leader of a violent armed wing serving Los Mayos, as well as associates of the criminal network of brothers René and Alfonso Arzate García—including former Rosarito mayor Hilda Araceli Brown Figueredo—were recently designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

In addition to being the first active politician to be blacklisted by the Treasury Department, those sanctioned included businessman Jesús González Lomeli and brothers Mario Alberto and Karlo Omar Herrera Sánchez, who are identified as liaisons with the Arzate García cell, former close associates of El Mayo Zambada.