Congressman for Parlacen for Guatemala is among those sanctioned by the United States

Guatemala City, 18 Mar The Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor's Office) of Guatemala reported this Friday that among the seven people sanctioned by the United States on charges of drug trafficking as part of the Los Huistas cartel is Freddy Arnoldo Salazar Flores, deputy of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) Salazar Flores is included in a list of seven people, released this Friday by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where they are sanctioned for belonging to the cartel and for their links with Mexican criminal organizations. In addition, the State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of the leader of the drug trafficking organization, Eugenio Darío Molina. With regard to the deputy in the Central American Parliament, the Guatemalan Public Prosecutor's Office recalled in a press release that, according to the US, the legislator is “responsible” for “storing and transporting shipments of cocaine on behalf of” the Los Huistas cartel. The Prosecutor's Office recalled that Salazar Flores had already been charged in 2016 in a District of Columbia court for drug trafficking, following an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Salazar Flores was elected in 2019 as a deputy to Parlacen by the political group Union of National Change (UCN) for the period 2020-2024. Due to his appointment as legislator, the deputy enjoys immunity, in accordance with the law in Guatemala with respect to Parlacen, which has not ruled on the matter. The Treasury Department's sanctions on Friday are on seven people, including Los Huistas leaders Eugenio Darío Molina and Aler Baldomero Samayoa Recinos, alias “El Chicharra”, Salazar Flores' alleged father-in-law according to authorities. The Treasury blocked the property and transactions under US law of both the organization and Molina and “El Chicharra”, leaders of Los Huistas since 2012. It also sanctioned the coffee company Café Captzin, which would be indirectly controlled by Molina. The Huistas operate in the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango, on the Mexican border, where they produce heroin and methamphetamines that they export to the United States through the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel. According to the US authorities, they also traffic in cocaine, control poppy fields in Huehuetenango and San Marcos, both departments of western Guatemala, import methamphetamine precursors from China, and carry out money-laundering operations. CHIEF jcm/rrt