The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, sanctioned four people and 11 entities tied to the Cartel del Noreste (CDN), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Treasury said the network runs through quarter horse racing, construction, trucking and fuel distribution in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, across the river from Laredo, Texas. Treasury did not give a release time, but Uno TV's first report on the action carried a 10:04 a.m. Mexico City timestamp, or 12:04 p.m. ET.
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) called the Cartel del Noreste sanctions its fourth and largest action against CDN networks under the Trump administration, according to the Treasury press release. Those designated include a Nuevo Laredo racetrack, a horse-racing businessman and his son, and an alleged CDN "plaza" boss.
The same day, Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) placed the network on its own blocked-persons list.
Key Facts
- When: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, posted on OFAC's recent actions page as "Counter Narcotics and Counter Terrorism Designations."
- Where: Most targets are in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. Others are in Anáhuac, Nuevo León, Mexico.
- Who: Gamaliel Garza García; his son Gamaliel Garza Elías; Pablo César Guajardo Álvarez, alias "El Takia"; and Francisco Javier Inzunza Partida, alias "Pancho Amador."
- What: Four individuals and 11 entities were designated under Executive Order 14059 (illicit drugs). All but two were also designated under Executive Order 13224 (terrorism).
- Key numbers: Treasury cited two cocaine shipments totaling 52 kilograms hidden in trailer brake drums. It also cited a 2008–2012 horse-laundering scheme that spent $16 million on U.S. racing operations.
- Status: In effect. Mexico's UIF froze 15 bank accounts, Diario de México reported.
What Happened
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the designations target the cartel's use of racing as a laundering channel. "Today's action exposes Cartel del Noreste's exploitation of the horse racing sector to launder illicit proceeds and finance cartel operations," Bessent said in the release. He called it "Treasury's most significant effort to date" to disrupt CDN's financial infrastructure.
The case centers on Club La Molienda, a racetrack, restaurant and bar on the outskirts of Nuevo Laredo. Treasury says CDN controls it. According to Treasury, Garza García is a businessman and racing enthusiast who races horses in Mexico and the United States. Treasury says he also runs construction and fuel companies in Nuevo Laredo. His racing barn, Cuadra San Dibanh, is in Anáhuac, Nuevo León, and was also designated.
Treasury alleges that Garza García's construction firm, Construcciones y Edificaciones Garza Elías (CEGESA), won public contracts from the Nuevo Laredo city government and the Tamaulipas state government through corrupt means. Treasury says the firm then subcontracted the work to CDN-linked people and that CDN used it to fund campaigns of the cartel's preferred candidates. Treasury says Garza Elías delivered cash for those campaigns. Neither Treasury nor the Mexican outlets reviewed named any candidate or party.
Uno TV reported that a Tamaulipas state gazette lists CEGESA in Nuevo Laredo's 2025 contractor register. The outlet noted that the listing alone does not prove any irregular award.
Treasury describes Guajardo Álvarez as CDN's current plaza boss in Nuevo Laredo and a former leader of its sicarios, or hit men. It says he has been involved in arms trafficking. Treasury also tied Tamex Logistics, also known as Tamex Leasing, to cocaine smuggling. It says the company's Nuevo Laredo truck yard originated at least two U.S.-bound cocaine shipments. Treasury says Inzunza Partida was involved in dispatching the two trailers.
CDN grew out of Los Zetas. The State Department listed it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, in a Federal Register notice signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that took effect Feb. 20, 2025. Founders Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales ("Z-40") and Óscar Omar Treviño Morales ("Z-42") kept control of the group despite their arrests in Mexico in 2013 and 2015, Treasury said, as Publimetro reported. Treasury says they relied on corrupt attorneys, including defense lawyer Juan Pablo Penilla Rodríguez, whom OFAC sanctioned in April 2026 alongside CDN-linked casinos, according to a VOA editorial.
Timeline
| Date/Time (ET) | Event |
|---|---|
| 2008–2012 | Treasury says CDN founders "Z-40" and "Z-42" launder drug money through U.S. quarter horse racing |
| June 2012 | U.S. authorities seize 455 horses at an Oklahoma horse farm, racing venues and training farms, Treasury says; NPR reports on the laundering case on June 12 |
| Feb. 20, 2025 | State Department's FTO designation of CDN takes effect |
| February 2025 | Mexico transfers the Treviño Morales brothers to the United States |
| May 21, 2025 | First OFAC action against CDN under the current administration |
| Aug. 6, 2025 | OFAC designates three senior CDN members and one associate, narco-rapper El Makabelico, Treasury says |
| April 14, 2026 | OFAC targets CDN-linked casinos, including Casino Centenario; the UIF later reports filing complaints with Mexico's attorney general |
| Oct. 4, 2026 | SOUTHCOM announces a boat strike that killed four, reported in the Caribbean |
| Oct. 13, 2026, by 12:04 p.m. | Treasury and Mexico's Finance Ministry announce coordinated CDN actions; Diario de México reports 15 accounts frozen at 3:55 p.m. |
Who's Involved
- Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury: Announced the action and called it Treasury's "most significant effort to date" against CDN's financial infrastructure.
- OFAC: Issued the designations. All targets except Inzunza Partida and Tamex carry an SDGT tag, and most entries carry a notice of secondary-sanctions risk for foreign financial institutions, the SDN entries show.
- Gamaliel Garza García: Linked directly to CDN on the SDN list. Eight of the designated entities list him as their link.
- Pablo César Guajardo Álvarez, "El Takia": Treasury's alleged CDN plaza boss in Nuevo Laredo. Treasury says he was arrested in 2020 in connection with a 2017 killing and later released.
- U.S. agencies: Treasury lists the Homeland Security Task Force, DEA, FBI, HSI, CBP, IRS-CI and ATF among its partners.
- Mexico's UIF and the Finance Ministry (SHCP): Hacienda said the blocked-persons listing is a preventive administrative step and "no implica una determinación definitiva de responsabilidad" ("does not imply a final determination of responsibility"), Grupo Animal reported.
Treasury took the action under Executive Orders 14059 and 13224 (as amended by 13886). The release mentions the Kingpin Act only in describing an earlier 2009 designation, and FinCEN appears only in a standard whistleblower-program note.
The OSINT Picture
The primary record is OFAC's SDN entries, which include personal identifiers for the four individuals and company registration (folio mercantil) data. Three of the companies were incorporated in 2024. The four fuel and gas firms were all incorporated on the same day, March 11, 2025, according to the listings. Ecker Geopolitics assesses with moderate confidence that same-day incorporation of four firms in one sector fits the shell-company indicators the UIF described. That is an inference, not a finding by either government.
Tamex is listed with a Nuevo Laredo street address and carrier code (SCAC TLOJ). The UIF said it found large cash movements, international transfers, and purchases of luxury vehicles, jewelry and real estate, Uno TV reported.
Ecker Geopolitics could not independently verify Treasury's campaign-finance and contracting allegations, or how much money was blocked in the United States.
Geopolitical Players
- Mexico: Hacienda said the UIF, in coordination with U.S. authorities, "fortalece acciones" ("is strengthening actions") against the cartel's financial structures, per Uno TV. Ecker Geopolitics found no public comment from President Claudia Sheinbaum as of publication.
- Earlier joint work: In April 2026, the UIF filed complaints with Mexico's attorney general's office (FGR) over CDN-linked casinos in Tamaulipas after OFAC acted, ADN40 reported. Treasury links Club La Molienda to one of those casinos, Casino Centenario.
What It Means for the United States
The following is analysis.
Benefits and opportunities
- The action targets CDN's legitimate-looking businesses, not just its gunmen. Racetracks, contractors and trucking yards are harder to rebuild than drug routes.
- The SDGT tags give Treasury leverage over foreign banks, which risk losing U.S. correspondent banking access if they keep handling the network's money.
- Naming Tamex and its carrier codes helps U.S. trucking firms and customs screening at Laredo. Treasury says that crossing carries nearly 40% of U.S.-Mexico commercial traffic.
- Mexico's same-day freeze suggests financial-intelligence cooperation is working.
Risks and dangers
- Sanctions rarely remove plaza bosses. Guajardo Álvarez was arrested in 2020 and later released, according to Treasury.
- Treasury's allegations about campaign money raise questions about Tamaulipas politics that Mexico has not publicly addressed. If they go unpursued, the cartel's political protection stays in place.
- Washington's treatment of cartels as terrorist threats runs alongside lethal force at sea. U.S. boat strikes have killed at least 235 people in 70 strikes since September 2025, Al Jazeera reported, and UN experts warn the strikes violate international law.
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What's Next
The designated people may petition OFAC for removal from the SDN list, the Treasury release notes, and in Mexico those listed keep a right to a hearing, Grupo Animal reported. Watch for UIF complaints to the FGR like those in the April casino case. The CDN's founders, Miguel Ángel and Óscar Omar Treviño Morales, face U.S. drug-trafficking, racketeering and money-laundering charges, Reuters reported.
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Sources
- U.S. Treasury: Treasury Targets Cartel del Noreste's Horse Racing Enterprise and Expansive Criminal Network, October 13, 2026
- OFAC: Counter Narcotics and Counter Terrorism Designations, October 13, 2026
- Reuters (via Internazionale): US sanctions Mexican cartel CDN's horse-racing, business network, October 13, 2026
- Federal Register: Foreign Terrorist Organization Designations (Public Notice 12672), February 20, 2025
- Uno TV: EU sanciona red del Cártel del Noreste, October 13, 2026
- Diario de México: UIF bloquea red financiera del Cártel del Noreste, October 13, 2026
- ADN40: EUA sanciona a personas y entidades vinculadas al Cártel del Noreste, October 13, 2026
- Grupo Animal: EU y México sancionan a cuatro personas y 11 empresas ligadas al Cártel del Noreste, October 13, 2026
- Publimetro: EE.UU. sanciona red del Cártel del Noreste, October 13, 2026
- ADN40: UIF denuncia casinos vinculados con el Cártel del Noreste ante la FGR, April 14, 2026
- VOA Editorials: U.S. Sanctions Cartel del Noreste Casinos and Operatives, April 2026
- NPR/WBUR: Feds Say Mexican Cartel Used American Quarter Horse Racing To Launder Money, June 12, 2012
- Al Jazeera: Latest US military strike on alleged drug boat kills four in Caribbean, October 5, 2026