HomeNewsBriefUS Designates Gaitanistas, Knights Templar and Cachiros As International Drug Traffickers
BRIEF

US Designates Gaitanistas, Knights Templar and Cachiros As International Drug Traffickers

COLOMBIA / 3 JUN 2013 BY MIRIAM WELLS EN

Colombia's Gaitanistas, Mexico's Knights Templar and Honduras' Cachiros have been added to the US Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers list, meaning US citizens are now banned from doing business with them.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control added the groups to its list, of individuals or companies who work on behalf of countries that are economically sanctioned by the US, or who are suspected drug traffickers or terrorists, on May 31.

Various leaders of the Urabeños, one of Colombia's principal drug trafficking organizations, are already featured on the list, but this is the first time the group as a whole has received its own mention. The Treasury Department said it was operating in 24 of Colombia's 32 provinces, reported Semana. The US Embassy in Colombia gave $500,000 to the Colombian government to help its fight against criminal gangs, reported newspaper El Tiempo.

The Treasury Department said the Cachiros controlled 90 percent of the illegal landing strips used by drug planes in Honduras and Guatemala. In Mexico, alleged Tijuana cartel leader Luis Fernando Sanchez Arellana was added to the list, as well as the Michaocan-based organization Knights Templar.

InSight Crime Analysis

These three groups all have very different levels of power and responsibilities along the international drug trafficking chain. The Urabeños are now estimated to have more than 2,000 members across Colombia and are one of the principal suppliers of cocaine to Mexican groups. The Cachiros are "transportistas", a local gang acting as middle men in the transhipment of Andean-produced drugs towards the United States. The Knights Templar is not one of Mexico's biggest cartels but is still a serious player, acting at the last stage of the supply chain into the US.

It is somewhat surprising the Gaitanistas and the Knights Templar have not been included on the SDN list until now, given their history and significance, and the fact that rival organizations such as Colombia's Rastrojos and Mexico's Zetas have featured on this list for some time.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

FEATURED / 8 MAY 2023

The heavy regulation placed on chemical precursors used for meth and fentanyl has seen drug traffickers turn to pre-precursors instead.

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME / 16 JUL 2021

Illegal fishing is out of control in the Mexican state of Yucatán, say local fishermen and media, as illegal techniques,…

BELTRAN LEYVA ORG / 7 JAN 2022

Murders have spiked in Mexico's northern state of Sonora, thanks to the volatile mix of a veteran drug trafficker's alleged…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report continues to be a reference in the region

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Staff Cited as Experts by International Media

21 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime deputy editor, Juan Diego Posada, was interviewed by the Associated Press about connections between the ex-FARC mafia and Brazilian criminal groups, and…