The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on the Mexican fuel-theft cartel “Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima” (CSRL) and its imprisoned leader, Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz (“El Marro”), targeting operations in Mexico and the United States.
According to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), CSRL has established a lucrative criminal enterprise by stealing fuel and crude oil from Mexico’s state-owned energy company, Pemex. The cartel allegedly bribes Pemex insiders, taps pipelines, hijacks tanker trucks, and intimidates employees to facilitate theft. Stolen products are then sold across Mexico, the United States, and Central America, with crude oil frequently smuggled into the U.S. under false pretenses as “waste oil.”
U.S. officials report that proceeds from these activities fund corruption, violence, and organized crime networks. Jose Antonio Yepez Ortiz, currently serving a 60-year prison sentence in Mexico, is alleged by U.S. authorities to direct CSRL’s operations from behind bars through communication with lawyers and relatives.
The sanctions, announced on Tuesday, freeze U.S.-based assets tied to CSRL or Yepez Ortiz, bar Americans from conducting business with them, and aim to disrupt a black market valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated the measures reflect President Donald J. Trump’s commitment to “eliminate” cartels by severing their financial lifelines.
This action follows the Trump administration’s broader campaign to dismantle cartel operations and cut off their access to the U.S. financial system, including designating certain major organizations as foreign terrorist entities and targeting drug trafficking routes.
