Today, the Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is announcing reward offers under the Narcotics Rewards Program (NRP) for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions, in any country, of Mexican narcotics traffickers associated with Cárteles Unidos in Mexico:
- Juan José Farías Álvarez, a/k/a "El Abuelo" - up to $10 million;
- Nicolás Sierra Santana, a/k/a "El Gordo" - up to $5 million;
- Alfonso Fernández Magallón, a/k/a "Poncho" - up to $5 million;
- Luis Enrique Barragán Chávez, a/k/a "R5," "Wicho," "Güicho" - up to $3 million; and
- Edgar Orozco Cabadas, a/k/a "El Kamoni" - up to $3 million.
Cárteles Unidos began as an alliance of smaller cartels in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, to prevent the incursion of larger cartels and criminal organizations into Michoacán, including Knights Templar and more recently Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). Members of the Carteles Unidos, and their associates, are involved in the large-scale production of methamphetamine and fentanyl in the Michoacán territory that they control. Cocaine is acquired from Colombia and then forwarded into the United States using some of the same transportation channels used to ship methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States.
On February 20, 2025, the Secretary of State designated Cárteles Unidos as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Terrorist Organization (SDGT).
Today's reward offers complement the Department of Justice's indictments of the rewards targets in the District of Columbia and Eastern District of Tennessee. The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also announced sanctions against the rewards targets and seven other Cárteles Unidos members.
Today's reward offers are authorized by the Secretary under the NRP
