U.S. Designates Juárez Cartel and Los Viagras as Foreign Terrorist Organizations

The U.S. government designated the Juárez Cartel and Los Viagras as foreign terrorist organizations on Thursday. The Federal Register published the listings, bringing the total number of Mexican criminal organizations labeled as terrorist groups to eight.

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.

Los 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.

President Donald 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 on Thursday that both newly designated groups either have committed terrorist acts or pose a serious risk of committing acts that threaten the security of U.S.

Nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States. The designations follow recent U.S. indictments of ten current and former Sinaloa state officials for alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and come amid ongoing disputes over U.S.

Operations inside Mexico.