U.S. Adds Two Mexican Cartels to Foreign Terrorist List

The U.S. government designated the Juárez Cartel and Los Viagras as foreign terrorist organizations on Thursday. The Federal Register published the designations, which bring the total number of Mexican criminal organizations labeled as terrorist groups to eight. The other six include the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The Juárez Cartel operates along the central section of the Mexico-U.S. border and has long controlled smuggling routes through Ciudad Juárez, across from El Paso, Texas. The group has maintained drug-trafficking infrastructure despite multiple leadership arrests.

Viagras operates in the western state of Michoacán, where it has shifted alliances to maintain territorial control and produces synthetic drugs for sale to other trafficking networks. Its leader, Nicolás Sierra Santana, faces a federal indictment in the District of Columbia for drug-trafficking conspiracy filed in June 2025.

Trump began extending the terrorist designation to Latin American cartels in February 2025. The policy aims to give U.S. authorities additional legal options against the groups and anyone accused of supporting them. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that both newly designated groups have either committed terrorist acts or pose a serious risk of committing acts that threaten U.S. nationals or national security, foreign policy, or the economy.

The designations follow recent U.S. indictments of ten current and former Sinaloa state officials for alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. They also come amid ongoing disputes over U.S. operations inside Mexico.