NEW YORK– The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Wilder Emilio Sanchez Farfan and Miguel Angel Valdez Ruiz for “materially contributing” to the illicit activities of major Mexican cartels to traffic cocaine into the United States, the institution announced today in a public statement.

The action taken by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), was made in collaboration with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the statement said.

The Treasury is “designating these two individuals for their support to one of Mexico’s most dangerous criminal organizations and for the delivery of cocaine to U.S. markets,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

Wilder Emilio Sanchez Farfan, an Ecuadorian national, is one of the most significant drug traffickers in the world today, the Treasury said. “Working from Guayaquil, Ecuador, Sanchez Farfan transports multi-ton quantities of cocaine over land from manufacturing labs in the south of Colombia to Ecuador where shipments are transported by land, air and maritime vessels (including commercial shipping containers), and land-based vehicles through Central America, Mexico, and ultimately the United States.”

Miguel Angel Valdez Ruiz, a Mexican national, is a drug trafficker in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico who imports cocaine from Ecuador and is supplied by and works directly with Sanchez Farfan. Valdez Ruiz serves as an intermediary between Sanchez Farfan and Ismael Zambada Garcia, a Sinaloa Cartel leader, according to the Treasury.

Zambada Garcia, who was designated on December 15, 2021 and is the subject of a State Department Narcotics Rewards Program offer. Valdez Ruiz has direct contact with Zambada Garcia and is responsible for helping him receive Sanchez Farfan’s cocaine from Ecuador. Valdez Ruiz uses his fleet of private aircraft to transport cocaine from Ecuador to Sinaloa, Mexico. He coordinates with associates in Mexicali, Ensenada, and Tijuana, Mexico to transport cocaine from Sinaloa to the southern border of California and into the United States.

The Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) are responsible for trafficking “a significant proportion of the fentanyl, cocaine, and other deadly drugs into the United States,” the statement said.