Legendary Mexican footballer Rafael Marquez Alvarez and a well-known band leader are among 22 people sanctioned for alleged ties to a drug trafficking organisation, the US Treasury Department announced on Wednesday. The sanctions are the result of a multi-year investigation of the drug trafficking organisation allegedly headed by Raul Flores Hernandez, the department said in a statement. It will also sanction 43 entities in Mexico, including a football team and casino.
It is the single largest such designation of a drug trafficking organisation ever by its Office of Foreign Assets Control, the statement said. Marquez, 38, is a former defender for Barcelona, Monaco and New York Red Bulls who currently plays for the Mexican soccer club Atlas in Guadalajara and is captain of the Mexican national team. Marquez denied having any links to drug traffickers.
"I categorically deny any kind of relation to this organisation," Marquez said in a statement on Wednesday, adding "today is my most difficult match; I will try to clear all of this up".
The sanctions freeze all US assets of the people and entities named and forbid US citizens from doing business with them.
Flores Hernandez allegedly operated independently in the northern city of Guadalajara but maintained alliances with the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels. The attorney general's office said Flores Hernandez was arrested July 20 and is being held while his extradition is pending. The Mexican Attorney General's Office also seized related assets on Wednesday, including the Grand Casino near Guadalajara, according to the US statement.
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