U.S. places two suspected Guatemalan drug traffickers on sanctions list

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States singled out two members of the notorious Guatemalan Lorenzana family for fresh sanctions Wednesday, saying they are allied with Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel.

Ovaldino Lorenzana Cordón, 44, and Marta Julia Lorenzana Cordón, 37, both children of alleged Guatemalan drug kingpin Waldemar Lorenzana Lima, were listed for financial and commericial sanctions for their role in the alleged organized crime network.

Both were officially branded “specially designated narcotics traffickers” for their alleged roles in the drug trafficking activities of their father, Lorenzana Lima, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement.

Also listed under the sanctions were eight businesses tied to the family.

The Treasury Department said the Lorenzana group “plays a key role” in moving cocaine from Colombia to Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, which then smuggles it into the United States.

Lorenzana Lima and a son, Eliu Elixander Lorenzana Cordón, were arrested in Guatemala in 2011. The U.S. is seeking their extradition.

Two other sons of Lorenzana Lima are already under U.S. sanctions for their roles in the group.

The new sanctions freeze any assets the individuals and businesses might have in U.S. jurisdictions, and forbid U.S. citizens from doing any business with them.