MEXICO · CARTELS · SANCTIONS
The United States on Friday 13 November 2026 designated three Guatemalan crime groups as terrorist organisations, saying they help Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), two large drug-trafficking organisations, move drugs. The State Department named Los Lorenzanas a Foreign Terrorist Organization, while the Treasury sanctioned Los Huistas and Los Mendoza as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).
For US readers the move reaches banks and businesses, because assets of the designated groups under US jurisdiction are blocked and Americans are barred from dealing with them. It also extends Washington’s terrorism label from Mexican cartels to their Guatemalan partners.
Who Are Los Mendoza and Los Huistas?
Los Mendoza and Los Huistas are Guatemalan drug-trafficking groups that, Treasury says, work together as allies. It links both groups to the Sinaloa Cartel, and Los Huistas also to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Treasury says the two groups facilitate the receiving, storage, protection and cross-border trafficking of drugs bound for the United States and other markets. That alliance, it adds, has built sophisticated cross-border networks.
A bus station in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. File photo. Photo: Ridiculopathy, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsWhat Is New This Time?
Los Huistas were already sanctioned for drug trafficking in March 2022, under a US counter-narcotics order. Los Mendoza were added on Friday under both the narcotics and the terrorism authorities, according to reports of the Treasury notice.
What Do the Designations Do?
A designation as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist blocks assets under US jurisdiction and bars US persons from transactions with the target, with limited exceptions. The Foreign Terrorist Organization label, applied to Los Lorenzanas, also exposes anyone who gives it material support to US criminal law.
The State Department describes Los Lorenzanas as one of Guatemala’s most powerful drug-trafficking clans and holds it responsible for violence against civilians, officials and soldiers. In February 2025 the Trump administration designated the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG, among others, as terrorist organisations.
Why It Matters
Treasury says the alliance helps move drugs across borders toward the United States and gives the two groups control over key segments of the supply chain. For US enforcement, that means targeting the middle of the chain, not only the Mexican groups at its end.
Each added name widens the net around the cartels’ logistics. That is the stretch between production and the US border, which designations of the Mexican groups alone did not reach.
What It Means for You
Companies with Guatemalan partners must now screen for the three names, a task for their compliance teams. The designations are not a travel warning for Guatemala.
What Is Not Known
Neither department has said how much money is affected by the blocking. No date for further US action has been announced, and Guatemala’s government response is not covered here.
More: Mexico news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are Los Mendoza?
A Guatemalan family-run criminal organisation founded in the 1980s. Treasury says it serves as an intermediary for the Sinaloa Cartel in Guatemala and Honduras.
What does a global terrorist designation mean?
It blocks the target’s assets under US jurisdiction. It also bars US persons from transactions with the target, with limited exceptions.
Which agency designated which group?
The State Department designated Los Lorenzanas. The Treasury designated Los Huistas and Los Mendoza.
US Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, recent actions, 13 Nov 2026 · US Department of State, designation of Los Lorenzanas, 13 Nov 2026 · US Treasury, Los Huistas designation, 18 Mar 2022