US adds Juarez Cartel and Los Viagras to terrorist organization list

The United States has designated Mexico's Juarez Cartel and Los Viagras group as foreign terrorist organizations, the State Department announced Thursday.

The move adds to six other designations Washington issued last year against cartels and organized crime groups in Mexico. The label gives US law enforcement wider scope in its campaign against drug gangs in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The State Department said the two groups were responsible for many attacks on US citizens, Mexican security forces and civilians. It cited a 2019 attack in Mexico's Sonora state that killed nine Americans: six children and three adults. The department said hitmen from La Linea, described as the dominant faction of the Juarez Cartel, killed them. The victims were in a vehicle carrying people from a Mormon community, and the attack caused anger in both countries.

Since returning to power last year, President Donald Trump has expanded the fight against international drug cartels. His administration has also used the terrorist designation for guerrilla or crime groups in Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil.

The US government says its fight against what it calls narcoterrorism gives it leeway to attack alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The source said the months-long campaign has killed more than 200 people. Critics say the attacks may amount to extrajudicial killings.

Washington also argues that terrorist designations allow it to carry out attacks in other countries. The source cited the US seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the killing in June of a presumed leader of the Tren de Aragua crime gang in Venezuela.

The State Department said terrorist designations expose and isolate entities and individuals by denying them access to the US financial system and resources used to carry out attacks. Mexico has said it opposes US intervention on its territory to fight cartels.