US Treasury sanctions 3 for Mexico drug cartel ties

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department yesterday blacklisted two Mexicans and one Colombian, accusing  them of providing material support to the Sinaloa Cartel, a  Mexican drug trafficking organization.

The Treasury said in a statement it had labeled Mexican  nationals Agustin Reyes Garza and Hector Contreras Novoa as  “specially designated narcotics traffickers” due to their  support of the Sinaloa Cartel’s activities.

The action bans Americans from doing business with them and  companies they control and seeks to freeze any assets they may  have under U.S. jurisdiction.

The Treasury also designated Colombian national Nestor  Alonso Tarazona Enciso as a drug trafficker for his ties to the  Sinaloa cartel, and also blacklisted two livestock companies  registered in Bogota that he owns or controls.

It said Tarazona Enciso was convicted on U.S. cocaine  trafficking charges and returned to Colombia in 1995 after  serving a prison sentence in the United States.

The latest additions to the Treasury’s blacklist are part  of its efforts to apply financial sanctions against foreign  drug traffickers under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin  Designation Act.

Since June 2000, the Treasury says it has imposed sanctions  against more than 500 businesses and individuals associated  with 82 drug kingpins, including 37 kingpins in Mexico.