8 Latin American Criminal Organizations to be Labeled as Terrorist Groups by Secretary of State Marco Rubio: Report

A total of eight criminal groups rooted in Latin America are expected to be designated as foreign terrorist organizations by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as early as this week, according to five U.S. officials with knowledge on the matter. The move will be carried out by the State Department, following Trump's executive order signed on Jan. 20 calling for a crackdown on major cartels.

More concretely, the State Department plans to designate the Colombian-based Clan del Golfo organization as well as five other cartels based in Mexico: the Sinaloa cartel, Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cartel del Noroeste, La Familia Michoacana and the Carteles Unidos.

The designations follow the executive order's steps which also singled out the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the Salvadorian gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).

The list of designations could change before a public announcement is made, two U.S. officials told the The New York Times. Trump's Jan. 20 executive order called for the designations, saying cartels "constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime," adding that the U.S. would "ensure the total elimination" of the criminal organizations.

As noted in the report, Trump allegedly gave Rubio two weeks to make the designations in consultation with several other cabinet members. According to the order, the criminal groups and their members could either be labeled as foreign terrorist organizations or as specially designated global terrorists, meaning the U.S. government can impose broad economic sanctions on the groups and on people linked to them.

Although most designations are targeted towards Mexican criminal groups, a U.S. official with knowledge of the list told The New York Times that the Colombian Gulf Clan was likely being added to the designations due to its involvement in migrant trafficking. The group largely controls the Darien Gap, a treacherous and narrow land bridge that connects South and Central America.

According to the report, the designation list was supposed to be completed last week but was delayed as the State Department expanded it from the groups outlined in Trump's Jan. 20 executive order.

Just last month, during an interview, Rubio talked about the need for the U.S. to dismantle Mexican drug cartels, saying that "there are parts of Mexico, many parts of Mexico, in which the government doesn't control those areas."

"They're controlled by drug cartels," Rubio continued. "They are the most powerful force on the ground, and they are plowing into the United States." During the interview, he added that criminal groups also facilitate illegal migration. "That's a national security threat, and that needs to stop," Rubio said.