A top Sinaloa Cartel leader in the Mexican state of Chihuahua has been arrested, the local attorney general's office said. Concretely, the Chihuahua Attorney General's office said that Humberto Rivera, who had several aliases, including "El Chato," was arrested on Thursday in Juarez, near the U.S. border. He was a top priority for the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), according to Border Report, and had several fake IDs with him.
The arrest comes as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration gears up to designate several Mexican criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations. More concretely, the Sinaloa cartel, Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cartel del Noroeste, La Familia Michoacana and the Carteles Unidos are expected to be targeted, according to 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.
In that context, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned that U.S. gunmakers could face new legal action if the Trump administration moves forward with this.
"If they declare these criminal groups as terrorists, then we'll have to expand our U.S. lawsuit," Sheinbaum said at her daily press conference. She went on to detail that a new charge could deem gunmakers as "complicit" of cartels, as the U.S. Justice Department recognized that almost three quarters of all weapons used by criminal groups in the country come from across the border.
Sheinbaum was likely making reference to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which revealed the figure in January. The document said most firearms come from Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. The findings, part of the National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA), highlight the persistent flow of weapons across the border fueling violence in Mexico.
More than 80% of firearms recovered in Mexico were found in areas dominated by two powerful cartels: the Sinaloa Cartel (CDS) and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has identified these groups as the most influential criminal organizations in Mexico. Additionally, the ATF report showed that U.S.-sourced firearms have also been trafficked to countries beyond Mexico, including Canada, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Brazil.
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
