MEXICO CITY -- The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions Thursday on Mexico's Familia Michoacana drug cartel, which it accused of manufacturing "rainbow" fentanyl pills purportedly aimed at children.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, blocked any U.S. properties of the Hurtado brothers, the leaders of the cartel, and prohibited U.S. citizens from having dealings with them.
The cartel is based in the southern state of Guerrero and is often known as "The New Michoacan Family," to distinguish it from an older gang that was largely expelled from the western state of Michoacan in the mid 2010s.
"Not only does this cartel traffic fentanyl, which claimed the lives of more than 108,000 Americans last year, it now markets 'rainbow fentanyl' as part of a deliberate effort to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement.
There has been debate about whether the multicolored fentanyl pills that have appeared in the U.S. market are designed to attract teens and young adults, or simply to distinguish the gang's brand.
Mexican cartels usually ship blue fentanyl pills to the United States that are counterfeited to look like Xanax, Adderall or Oxycodone. Synthetic opioid overdoses kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, in part because many of those who take the pills do not know they are taking fentanyl.
Thursday's sanctions were directed at Jose Alfredo Hurtado, who leads the Familia Michoacana along with his brother Johnny Hurtado. The Treasury Department says the cartel also traffics meth, heroin and cocaine.
Their gang has been active in Guerrero and the neighboring states of Morelos, Mexico and Michoacan, and is known for being notoriously violent.
In October, authorities said a massacre of 20 townspeople in the town of Totolapan, Guerrero, appears to have been the work of Jose Alfredo Hurtado, who tried to use social media to blame a rival gang.