The DEA launched a social media campaign offering a reward for information leading to the capture of Horacio De la Cruz Mazariegos, alias 'El Botanas', presumed operator of the Los Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel in the Chiapas border region.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) this week spread the wanted poster for the presumed leader from its official Facebook page. Horacio De la Cruz Mazariegos faces federal charges in the Southern District of Texas for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances for illegal import and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
According to the DEA, De la Cruz Mazariegos allegedly controls the border between Chiapas and Guatemala and facilitates the transport of several-ton cocaine shipments from South and Central America to the United States. The organization has also been linked to transnational drug trafficking and local extortion.
De la Cruz Mazariegos was born in Chiapas on April 29, 1983. In early May last year he escaped an operation in the municipalities of Metapa de Domínguez, Frontera Hidalgo and Tuxtla Chico, minutes before federal forces arrived.