US Designates Juárez Cartel and Los Viagras as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Mexico City, July 16, 2026 – The US government, under the administration of Donald Trump, officially designated the Juárez Cartel and the Michoacán-based group Los Viagras as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) today. This decision marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing efforts to combat transnational organized crime, bringing the total number of Mexican cartels classified as FTOs to eight since the strategy began in February 2025.
Previously designated cartels include the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Northeast Cartel, Gulf Cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and United Cartels. The US Department of State highlighted the significant criminal activities of both groups, emphasizing their role in drug trafficking and violence.
Five Decades of Criminal History: From Pablo Acosta to ‘El Señor de los Cielos’
The Juárez Cartel, a criminal enterprise with a history spanning five decades, originated in the early 1970s along the northern border of Mexico. Its founder, Pablo Acosta Villarreal, known as “El Zorro de Ojinaga,” established the initial drug trafficking networks from Chihuahua to Texas. The strategic geographical location of Chihuahua, particularly the Ciudad Juárez-El Paso corridor, has historically made it one of the most coveted drug trafficking routes in the Americas.
Following Acosta’s death in 1987, the cartel’s leadership transitioned through several hands before reaching Amado Carrillo Fuentes. Under Carrillo Fuentes’s command, the organization transformed into Mexico’s most formidable criminal entity in the 1990s. Dubbed “El Señor de los Cielos” (The Lord of the Skies) due to his fleet of Boeing 727 aircraft used for cocaine transport, Carrillo Fuentes reportedly controlled at least half of all drug trafficking between Mexico and the United States, according to DEA estimates. He forged alliances with major Colombian cartels, including Medellín, Cali, and Norte del Valle.
Amado Carrillo Fuentes’s reign ended on July 4, 1997, when he reportedly died during plastic surgery in a Mexico City hospital, an attempt to alter his appearance and evade authorities. Although his death was never definitively proven, it marked the beginning of the cartel’s decline.
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and the Rise of La Línea
Amado’s brother, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, known as “El Viceroy,” assumed leadership for 17 years. However, he lacked his predecessor’s influence and connections. During his tenure, the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, fiercely contested control over Chihuahua, leading to intense territorial wars. Vicente Carrillo was apprehended in Torreón, Coahuila, in October 2014 without resistance. In February 2025, he was extradited to the United States as part of a mass delivery of drug lords by the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, signaling a new era of bilateral security cooperation.
As the historical leadership weakened, the cartel relied heavily on its armed wing, La Línea, to maintain influence. Formed in the early 2000s by active and former municipal and state police officers from Ciudad Juárez, La Línea’s name refers to the “line” these corrupt agents established to control drug sales. Those who defied them faced execution.
Initially a protection scheme, La Línea evolved into a more complex force. When the Sinaloa Cartel attempted to seize Ciudad Juárez in 2008, La Línea became the primary armed resistance. For a period, it collected taxes from both groups for using their routes. Over time, La Línea absorbed the cartel to such an extent that the US Treasury Department now considers it an alias for the organization itself, rather than a separate arm.
In September 2023, La Línea forged an alliance with the CJNG, which now supplies cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl to the Chihuahua-based group. This partnership led to what local crime scene banners refer to as the “New Juárez Cartel.”
La Línea’s International Crimes and Reign of Terror
The year 2010 marked the most violent period in Ciudad Juárez’s history, with an average of 10 homicides daily, largely attributed to La Línea’s brutal actions.
- Villas de Salvárcar Massacre (January 31, 2010): A commando in seven tinted-window vans stormed a party in the Villas de Salvárcar neighborhood, blocking exits and opening fire. Sixteen teenagers watching a soccer match were killed. Authorities found over 100 AK-47 casings. The massacre was ordered by José Antonio Acosta Hernández, “El Diego,” La Línea’s leader, who mistakenly believed rival gang members were present.
- Rehabilitation Center Massacre (June 10, 2010): Dozens of armed men, identifying themselves as police, stormed a rehabilitation center in the state capital. They forced patients outside and executed 19 people. Over 200 casings of various calibers were found. A La Línea leader later admitted to planning the attack.
- Car Bomb Attack (July 2010): La Línea members detonated 10 kilograms of C-4 explosive via cellphone in downtown Ciudad Juárez, marking Mexico’s first successful car bomb attack in the drug war. The explosion killed a police officer and a paramedic responding to an emergency call. A message left by La Línea warned, “We will continue this way with authorities who keep supporting El Chapo.”
- LeBarón Family Massacre (November 4, 2019): In the mountains between Sonora and Chihuahua, a commando ambushed three vehicles carrying women and children from the binational LeBarón Mormon community. Three women and six minors, including two babies, died. The National Defense Secretariat attributed the attack to La Línea, whose members allegedly mistook the victims for members of the rival Los Salazar group, linked to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Current Criminal Activities and Leadership
While the Juárez Cartel no longer operates on the scale of the 1990s, it maintains control over one of the most lucrative border corridors in the Americas. The DEA identifies it among the Mexican criminal organizations posing the greatest drug trafficking threat to the United States, with operations concentrated in the El Paso-Juárez corridor.
The organization traffics heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and, in recent years, fentanyl. Beyond direct drug trafficking, the cartel charges other organizations fees for using the routes in the Juárez Valley, a business model that ensures revenue without moving all merchandise themselves. Its income sources also include migrant smuggling across the border, illegal logging in the Chihuahua mountains, vehicle theft, and money laundering.
Following Vicente Carrillo Fuentes’s fall, Juan Pablo Ledezma, “El JL,” leader of La Línea, assumed command and brokered the alliance with the CJNG in 2017. He remains at large.
In October 2024, OFAC sanctioned five La Línea operators for fentanyl trafficking: Josefa Yadira Carrasco Leyva, “La Wera,” a high-ranking member involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking, and arms smuggling; Jorge Adrián Ortega Gallegos, “El Naranjas,” a high-level commander indicted in a New Mexico federal court for drug conspiracy; Heber Nieto Fierro, “Ever Nieto,” a financier and money launderer; and Jesús Salas Aguayo and Adrián Aguayo, who controlled territories in Chihuahua. Salas Aguayo, “El Chuyín,” was assassinated in February 2026 while incarcerated in Ciudad Juárez.
The designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US government underscores the severity of the threat posed by the Juárez Cartel and Los Viagras, signaling intensified efforts to disrupt their operations and dismantle their networks.
