SAN DIEGO (AP) — The U.S. State Department said Thursday that it would pay up to $10 million for information leading to the arrests or convictions of two brothers identified as leaders of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel in the state of Baja California, which includes Tijuana.
The reward offer came the same day that authorities announced a new indictment against Rene Arzate Garcia, 42, known as “La Rana" ("The Frog"). He was initially charged with drug crimes in San Diego. The superseding indictment includes charges of conspiracy, narcoterrorism and material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The U. S. is offering $5 million each for information on Rene Arzate Garcia and Alfonso Arzate Garcia, 52, known as “Aquiles” ("Achilles"). Their whereabouts are unknown.
“As controllers of a critical trafficking node in Tijuana at the U.S. border, the Arzate-Garcia brothers have become key essential components of the cartel’s command-and-control structure,” the State Department said. “Their control of the Tijuana Plaza offers the Sinaloa Cartel a tactical advantage in maintaining dominance over rival organizations, ensuring no interruption to the busiest border crossing in the Western Hemisphere.”
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said, "Foreign terrorist organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel have spent decades poisoning our children and committing acts of unimaginable violence against innocent civilians -- no longer under President Trump. This latest indictment, which follows the landmark conviction of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder 'El Mayo' on American soil, is a key development in this Department of Justice's ongoing campaign to permanently dismantle these cartels and deliver American justice to their cowardly leaders.”
"The FBI and its partners commitment to thwarting the Sinaloa Cartel is unwavering. We will continue to use everything at our disposal to disrupt their operations and prevent further drugs and violence from coming into our communities. The Sinaloa Cartel, including its leaders, will be forced to face the consequences of their actions," FBI Director Kash Patel said.
California's border with Mexico has been a battleground between the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.
The rewards were announced four days after the Mexican army killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” decapitating what had become Mexico’s most powerful cartel. The drug lord was the Mexican government’s biggest prize yet to show the Trump administration in its efforts to crack down on the cartels.
