Email

Print

The release is even accompanied by an organizational chart - and Jules Vasquez had a look at that today and fills in with some information from the press release:...

The chart posted on the US Treasury Department website and sent out in a US Embassy press release describes it as the John Zabaneh Drug Trafficking Organization - Sinaloa Cartel Operatives in Belize.

According to the New York Times, the Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for "as much as half of the illegal narcotics imported into the United States from Mexico each year."

The chart shows Zabaneh as the boss and Dion Zabaneh and Daniel Moreno as his associates.

And then it lists five companies that the Treasury Department claims "are owned or controlled by John Zabaneh or members of his organization."

Those companies are Mayan King Limited (banana farm), Mid-South Investments Limited (building contractor and property consultant) - which built, among other thing, Coney Drive in Belize City, Crown Paradise Enterprises Limited (resort management and marina), and Belize Chemicals Limited (pharmaceuticals). It says that Moreno's company is D's Supermarket Company Limited, a grocery store in Corozal.

The purposes of today's action is to quote, "prohibit U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals and companies, and also freezes any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction."

Joaquin Guzman Loera known as El Chapo is the boss of the Sinaloa cartel - he is on the Forbe's list of billionaires and is Mexico's most wanted man. According to this press release "(the US)OFAC is designating John Zabaneh for the prominent role that he and his organization play in narcotics trafficking in Central America, particularly Belize, as well as their role in the drug trafficking operations of Chapo Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel."

The press release quotes a US official as saying that "John Zabaneh's drug trafficking activities and his organization's ties to Colombian sources of supply and Mexican buyers make him a critical figure in the narcotics trade,". The official adds that "By designating Zabaneh, OFAC is disrupting those activities and continuing its efforts, alongside those of our law enforcement partners, to expose operatives of Chapo Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel, including their businesses."

Johnny Zabaneh also told us that the informants tell the US what they want to hear. He added that he does not even know who his alleged associate Daniel Moreno is.

He says the US has dogged him with allegations from the 80's and claims that everything that happens, they always bring up his name first. He concedes that he did have his run in's with US law enforcement in his twenties. An internet search shows that in 1986, the then 31 year old Zabaneh was taken to trial in Texas for allegedly flying 1,120 pounds into that US State.

As for Daniel Moreno, we tried to reach him multiple times at his home in Corozal - but he was out. His wife Monica explained, that he was working with NEMO.

She told us that the allegations in the release are lies and the US has no right to make such allegations. She suspects the misinformation comes from a professional rivalry Moreno has over the ownership of a barge.

We note that Moreno's home was searched by the GSU in April and he was charged for the possession of a single shotgun cartridge. And, as for the other accused person, Dion Zabaneh, a relative told us he has been out of the country for the past month - so we could not get comment from him.

Dion Zabaneh - viewers will recall was implicated in September of 2005 for a December 2004 transaction in which he was allegedly given 6.2 million dollars to convert into US dollars for Telemedia - which was managed by the Ashcroft Alliance at the time. But BTL never got the US dollars and neither did it get back its 6.2 million Belize dollars.

And so, while all that is the background to a very colourful scene that the US Department of the Treasure has laid out, the facts are that there is no US criminal indictment pending for any of these gentlemen - and an official from the US embassy told us that the purpose of the engagement is simply to prohibit U.S persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with the three individuals and five companies designated - while freezing any US assets. For Mayan King which is one of the larger banana farms in Belize - it seems to put that company in serious straits with its bankers - because their relationship could affect that Bank's correspondent relationship with a US bank.

And so will the US request extradition of these persons? Again, this is not a move by the Department of Justice - and a US embassy official told us, quote, "I am not aware of any intention to extradite them."

And does the US have evidence to back up these claims? The embassy official told us, quote, "The designation is not an action which was undertaken lightly or without proper consideration..."

http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1674.aspx