The Lorenzanas were a traditional contraband family who, over time, became enmeshed in the lucrative drug trade. Based along Guatemala’s border with Honduras, the group was one of Guatemala’s most powerful drug trafficking clans for some two decades.
Many of its top leaders were arrested and extradited to the United States starting in the early 2010s, but US authorities allege that relatives of the family continue to control the group’s operations, and have been behind recent violence on the Guatemala-Honduras border.
In This Profile
Recent News On the Lorenzanas
May 26, 2026 – The Lorenzanas Open Fire on Civilians
Guatemalan military intelligence reported that the Lorenzanas were responsible for a convoy of 100 men traveling in vehicles that opened fire on residents of the village of San José Las Lágrimas, less than a kilometer from the border with Honduras near Esquipulas, in the Chiquimula department.
What’s the story behind the Lorenzanas?
The Lorenzanas are one of Guatemala’s longest-running drug trafficking groups, and were active in the 1990s and early 2000s. The family had a relationship with Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel that stretched back at least 20 years. Their reach once extended from Guatemala’s poorest communities, whose support they bought, to the upper echelons of the country’s political elite.
While the Lorenzanas are not as powerful as they used to be, they remain an influential criminal group, especially in their historic base of operations in Zacapa along Guatemala’s border with Honduras. US authorities say that younger generations of the family continue to run the group’s operations.
Who Leads the Lorenzanas?
Waldemar Lorenzana was the family patriarch, founder, and leader of the Lorenzanas’ criminal operations up until his capture. He was temporarily arrested in December 2008 for alleged weapons possession but was soon released, highlighting the group’s ability to corrupt the justice system. In April 2010, the US Treasury Department froze Waldemar’s assets, as well as those of his three sons, citing connections with the Sinaloa Cartel.
After a change of government in Guatemala in 2011, the Lorenzana empire came crashing down. Waldemar and his sons Eliu and Waldemar were all arrested and later extradited to the United States.
Shortly after his extradition to the United States, Waldemar Lorenzana pleaded guilty to drug charges in August 2014. The younger Waldemar Lorenzana and his brother Eliu were convicted on drug trafficking charges in March 2016. They were separately sentenced to life in prison in 2018.
Haroldo Jeremías Lorenzana Cordón, alias “Chichi,” the last of Waldemar Lorenzana’s fugitive sons, was captured during a Guatemalan police operation in 2019. Despite strong objections and legal maneuvering, he later accepted his extradition to the United States in early 2021 to face charges that he trafficked drugs through Guatemala and Mexico to the United States. He was extradited alongside Marta Julia Lorenzana Cordón, Waldemar’s daughter and a key logistics operator for the group who was sentenced to 33 years in US prison in 2024 for drug trafficking.
A year after those extraditions, Waldemar’s grandson, Hans Broiner Lemus Lorenzana, was murdered at a restaurant in eastern Zacapa. Lemus Lorenzana did not have any prior record for drug trafficking, but some sources believe his murder was due to a family dispute with his cousin, Haroldo Waldemar Lorenzana Terraza, alias “Haroldito.”
The US State Department offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Haroldito, the son of Haroldo Jeremías, in March 2025. Prosecutors accused him of leading the Lorenzanas criminal group and of transporting cocaine shipments through the country for the Sinaloa Cartel.
Later that same year, in August, authorities arrested Steven Ovaldino Lorenzana, alias “Chipi,” one of Haroldito’s top lieutenants and another grandson of Waldemar. Guatemalan prosecutors allege he coordinated the reception of cocaine shipments flown into Guatemala before being transported to Mexico. He was extradited to the United States in June 2025.
Where do the Lorenzanas Operate?
The Lorenzanas operate primarily from the department of Zacapa near Guatemala’s shared border with Honduras. From this key cocaine crossing point, they facilitate northbound drug shipments arriving from South and Central America and transport them into Mexico. In recent years, they have also expanded into the departments of Chiquimila, as well as Izabal and Verapaz along the border with Honduras, according to US prosecutors.
Who Are the Lorenzanas’s Allies and Enemies?
The Lorenzanas maintain a drug trafficking relationship with factions of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel that dates back at least two decades. US prosecutors have also accused the Lorenzanas of maintaining ties to drug trafficking networks operating in Honduras—including as the Valle Cartel—and Venezuela.
What is the Lorenzana’s Outlook?
The Lorenzanas were weakened by the arrests of many of the group’s top leaders in the last 20 years, several of whom have been extradited to the United States to stand trial. However, despite the blows to its organizational structure, they continue to be a major criminal player in Guatemala.
