{"id":"1794601415865-news-segment","slug":"treasury-hits-guatemalan-cartel-groups","title":"Treasury Hits Guatemalan Cartel Groups","summary":"On Nov. 13, 2026, Treasury's OFAC sanctioned the Guatemala-based Los Mendoza and Los Huistas drug trafficking organizations for providing material support to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and/or CJNG.\n\nSS United States was built at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company; after her 1951 launch, the liner spent months fitting out before sea trials, so the photo caption is consistent with the timeline.\n\nResearchers estimate that global militaries account for about 5.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions; the post's statistic is in line with those estimates. This is an accusation/opinion about genocide, not a straightforward factual claim that can be verified true or false.","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T20:23:35.865Z","channel":{"id":"news","name":"Oncast News","language":"en"},"show":"Washington","verification":{"status":"verified","leadVerdict":"TRUE","notes":"TRUE: On Nov. 13, 2026, Treasury's OFAC sanctioned the Guatemala-based Los Mendoza and Los Huistas drug trafficking organizations for providing material support to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and/or CJNG.\nSource: [home.treasury.gov](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0689) NAMES: Scott Bessent = U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; OFAC = Office of Foreign Assets (https://x.com/NatalieHarpQ/status/2121334219460788602)\n\nTRUE: SS United States was built at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company; after her 1951 launch, the liner spent months fitting out before sea trials, so the photo caption is consistent with the timeline.\nSource: SS United States Conservancy NAMES: Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company = Virginia shipyard where SS United States was built. (https://x.com/OceanlinerLedge/status/2121334144307466252)\n\nTRUE: Researchers estimate that global militaries account for about 5.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions; the post's statistic is in line with those estimates. This is an accusation/opinion about genocide, not a straightforward factual claim that can be verified true or false.\nSource: Conflict and Environment Observatory NAMES: none POST bsky:at://did:plc:ygprjyphkmoefvtbrhtfr44a/app.bsky.feed.post/3n25tyfxf322z: NOCLAIM N/A (https://bsky.app/profile/viktx.bsky.social/post/3n25jrvkhzs2q)","claims":[{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"On Nov. 13, 2026, Treasury's OFAC sanctioned the Guatemala-based Los Mendoza and Los Huistas drug trafficking organizations for providing material support to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and/or CJNG.","sourceName":"[home.treasury.gov](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0689) NAMES: Scott Bessent = U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; OFAC = Office of Foreign Assets","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/NatalieHarpQ/status/2121334219460788602","claim":"🚨 BREAKING: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is hitting two powerful Guatemalan criminal organizations with major sanctions over their alleged ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG. The message is clear: the Trump administration is targeting not just the cartels, but the http","author":"Natalie Harp Truth Social Post On X (@NatalieHarpQ)"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"SS United States was built at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company; after her 1951 launch, the liner spent months fitting out before sea trials, so the photo caption is consistent with the timeline.","sourceName":"SS United States Conservancy NAMES: Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company = Virginia shipyard where SS United States was built.","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/OceanlinerLedge/status/2121334144307466252","claim":"SS United States rests in her fitting-out berth at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in 1951. Although her hull had already taken shape, months of work remained before the legendary liner was ready for sea. During this period, her interiors, machinery, and https:","author":"Oceanliner Legends (@OceanlinerLedge)"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"Researchers estimate that global militaries account for about 5.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions; the post's statistic is in line with those estimates. This is an accusation/opinion about genocide, not a straightforward factual claim that can be verified true or false.","sourceName":"Conflict and Environment Observatory NAMES: none POST bsky:at://did:plc:ygprjyphkmoefvtbrhtfr44a/app.bsky.feed.post/3n25tyfxf322z: NOCLAIM N/A","sourceUrl":"https://bsky.app/profile/viktx.bsky.social/post/3n25jrvkhzs2q","claim":"And the elephant in the room that no leader talks about is their part they played in the Middle-East illegal wars and genocides War and military activities contribute directly to climate change, with global militaries accounting for an estimated 5.5% of total global greenhouse ga","author":"Viktor 🇵🇸🍉🦘🦘🪃 (@viktx.bsky.social)"}]},"sources":[{"url":"https://x.com/NatalieHarpQ/status/2121334219460788602","name":"[home.treasury.gov](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0689) NAMES: Scott Bessent = U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; OFAC = Office of Foreign Assets","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"Natalie Harp Truth Social Post On X (@NatalieHarpQ)"},{"url":"https://x.com/OceanlinerLedge/status/2121334144307466252","name":"SS United States Conservancy NAMES: Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company = Virginia shipyard where SS United States was built.","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"Oceanliner Legends (@OceanlinerLedge)"},{"url":"https://bsky.app/profile/viktx.bsky.social/post/3n25jrvkhzs2q","name":"Conflict and Environment Observatory NAMES: none POST bsky:at://did:plc:ygprjyphkmoefvtbrhtfr44a/app.bsky.feed.post/3n25tyfxf322z: NOCLAIM N/A","kind":"bluesky","verdict":"TRUE","author":"Viktor 🇵🇸🍉🦘🦘🪃 (@viktx.bsky.social)"}],"url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1794601415865-news-segment-treasury-hits-guatemalan-cartel-groups","listenUrl":"https://oncast.fm/c/news","attribution":{"publisher":"Oncast","site":"https://oncast.fm","url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1794601415865-news-segment-treasury-hits-guatemalan-cartel-groups","cite":"Cite https://oncast.fm/story/1794601415865-news-segment-treasury-hits-guatemalan-cartel-groups and the original source links. Fact-check by Oncast (oncast.fm)."},"hostsSaid":[{"host":"Brian","text":"Treasury just hit two Guatemalan crime groups over alleged ties to Sinaloa and CJNG."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Not just the border. This is the supply chain behind the cartels."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Natalie Harp's Truth Social account on X says Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sanctioned two powerful Guatemalan criminal organizations over their alleged ties to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG."},{"host":"Bella","text":"The groups are Los Mendoza and Los Huistas. Treasury says they provided material support to the cartels."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Material support. That's transport, weapons, money, safe passage."},{"host":"Bella","text":"This isn't a street-corner arrest. It's the network that keeps the drugs moving."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Exactly. These two groups sit on the Central American corridor."},{"host":"Bella","text":"But let's not pretend it's a knockout."},{"host":"Brian","text":"It's not meant to be. Sanctions freeze them out of U.S. banks and trade."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Cartels don't keep their money in a bank under their own name."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Their business partners might. That's how you squeeze the network."},{"host":"Bella","text":"I get the tool. But we've sanctioned Sinaloa leaders for years, and the group reorganizes."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Then we should stop? That makes no sense."},{"host":"Bella","text":"I didn't say stop. I said don't call every sanctions action a major blow."},{"host":"Brian","text":"I'd call freezing a group's U.S. assets a major blow, even if it isn't final."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Fine, it's a useful pressure point. The core still walks."},{"host":"Brian","text":"But Treasury keeping names in public is better than just tweeting about walls."},{"host":"Bella","text":"That I'll give you."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Different kind of cost: one Bluesky post says global militaries cause five and a half percent of greenhouse gases."},{"host":"Bella","text":"The post's figure is one the Conflict and Environment Observatory also uses, so it's worth taking seriously."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And the poster's point is nobody in government wants to talk about it."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Of course not. It's war. But the accounting still matters."},{"host":"Brian","text":"You can't ask Ukraine to count carbon while Russia bombs its grid."},{"host":"Bella","text":"I'm not asking Kyiv. I'm asking our own defense planners to look at fuel use."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And if more efficient systems cost more or go less far, the Pentagon will still pick the one that works."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Exactly. That's why the number keeps rising."},{"host":"Brian","text":"In a shooting war, survival beats emissions. That's not heartless, it's priority."},{"host":"Bella","text":"But the climate bill doesn't wait for peacetime."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Then we fight now and pay later."},{"host":"Bella","text":"And the people near those bases and ports pay in air quality now."},{"host":"Brian","text":"I won't argue that. But the post then drifts into 'illegal wars' language and loses me."},{"host":"Bella","text":"The five and a half percent stands regardless of the rest of the post."},{"host":"Brian","text":"It does. But it's also a smaller slice than most people think."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Smaller until you look at what that share represents in absolute terms."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Now you're moving the goalposts. The issue was whether leaders should talk about it, not whether it's the top emitter."},{"host":"Bella","text":"It should be part of every defense budget hearing. That's my point."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Fine. Count it. But don't pretend that changes the immediate need to deter China or Russia."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Nobody's pretending. But if you never count it, you never try to reduce it."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Alright, I'll give you that one too."},{"host":"Bella","text":"And if you want the human side behind those percentage points, there's another Bluesky post today."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Ash Oro posted figures that should stop you: hundreds of seafarers repatriated from one country, and dozens dead in the Black Sea and Middle East this year."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Those numbers come from the post, not from an official registry. But the pattern is real."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Merchant crews are getting caught in war zones. Shipping lanes turned into front lines."},{"host":"Bella","text":"The post calls them the lucky ones who made it home."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And thousands more still trapped, according to the account."},{"host":"Bella","text":"We talk about trade routes, oil, sanctions. Humans are steering those ships."},{"host":"Brian","text":"That's the thread today. Sanctions, emissions, casualties — all the hidden infrastructure of conflict."},{"host":"Bella","text":"And the people inside it don't get a briefing room."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Just a ship and a prayer."}]}