The United States government recently classified two additional Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. These groups include the Juárez Cartel, which operates near the U.S. border with Texas, and Los Viagras, a notorious criminal organization from the western state of Michoacán.
The announcement, published in the Federal Register, adds these cartels to a list of others that the U.S. considers terrorist entities. This includes the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Other gangs in Latin America from nations like Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, and El Salvador have also been designated by the Trump administration.
President Trump extended the terrorist label to Latin American cartels in February 2025. This classification aims to empower U.S. authorities to act forcefully against these groups and those who assist them. Since last September, U.S. military strikes have resulted in the deaths of over 200 individuals suspected of drug trafficking in Latin American waters.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio articulated that both the Juárez Cartel and Los Viagras have committed terrorist acts or could imminently pose threats to U.S. security, foreign policy, or the economy.
The designation has intensified pressures on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. The indictment of ten current and former Sinaloa officials for alleged cartel affiliations and controversies over U.S. operations in Mexican territory have added to these pressures.
Higher Pressure on Texas Border
The Juárez Cartel is a longstanding drug trafficking organization in Mexico, controlling a key border passage between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas. Its founder, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, infamously smuggled large drug shipments by aircraft in the 1990s, creating a multi-million dollar enterprise.
Despite leadership arrests, the cartel sustains a vast smuggling network. It faced accusations in the brutal 2019 murders of nine American women and children from a Mormon community in Mexico. Relatives of the victims filed a lawsuit against the Juárez Cartel.
Mexican analyst David Saucedo highlights the terrorist designation’s importance in empowering the U.S. to take decisive border actions.
The Gulf Cartel and the Northeast Cartel, also near Texas, were similarly labeled in February 2025.
The U.S. Focus on Michoacán
Los Viagras operate in Michoacán, where other cartels like Cárteles Unidos and La Nueva Familia Michoacana are also designated terrorist groups. Los Viagras arose after a successful 2013–2014 armed farmers’ insurgency, overthrowing older cartels only for new ones to emerge.
This year, an associate named “El Botox” was arrested over the murder of a vocal lime growers’ leader. The cartel, led by Nicolás Sierra Santana (“El Gordo”), is indicted for drug trafficking conspiracy in Washington, D.C., since June 2025. The U.S. State Department has posted a $5 million bounty for his arrest.
Los Viagras’ operations extend to regional control through extortion and synthetic drug production for trafficking. In 2024, they set up clandestine internet antennas, extorting fees from locals to access Wi-Fi, threatening non-compliant residents with violence. Known as “narco-antennas” in media, this network involves stolen equipment installed across towns.