US sanctions Guatemala-based organization for human trafficking

The United States on Thursday sanctioned a Guatemala-based human trafficking criminal organization that has smuggled thousands of people from the Central American country to its territory, through Mexico.

According to a statement from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury, the López HSO Organization is run by Guatemalans Rolando Galindo López Escobar, his son Whiskey Hans López Ambrosio and his wife Karen Stefany Hernández Vanegas.

While the organization has primarily operated in New Mexico, Arizona and California, its operations have also included parts of Texas, with migrants transported to Virginia and other states far from the U.S.-Mexico border.

The group “sought to smuggle thousands of migrants into the United States through an illegal transnational operation that exploited those seeking a better life for themselves and their families,” said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

OFAC sanctions are intended to disrupt and ultimately dismantle the operations of these networks, which threaten U.S. national security.

Also on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico announced an indictment charging Ronaldo Galindo López Escobar, Whiskey Hans López Ambrosio, Karen Stefany Hernández Vanegas and five others with conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens.

The OFAC document explained that as part of its human smuggling operations, the Lopez organization purchased fraudulent Mexican documents and paid cartel fees to facilitate the movement of migrants through Mexico.

As their business grew, the organization acquired buses to transport larger numbers of migrants to the United States. In addition to transporting people, the organization was responsible for operating stash houses along the southwest border where migrants were housed illegally.

The organization’s leaders used several U.S. banks and money services companies to receive payments from the smugglers’ families and to pay other members of the organization, located in Mexico and Guatemala, for their smuggling services.

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