Press Briefing with Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Michael C. Gonzales

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) My name is Natalia Molano. I am the director of the Media Hub of the Department of State of the U.S. in Miami, Florida. I welcome you, and thank you to the - thanks - the international journalists who are connected to this virtual press conference.

I have the privilege of introducing and welcome the Deputy Assistant Secretary from the Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Mr. Michael Gonzales, who will speak about the recent announcement by the U.S. Government regarding reward for information that would lead to the arrest or conviction of - from - in any country of eight leaders and collaborators of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cártel.

This press conference is an attribution press conference, on the record. Transcription will be published in the website, the translation website of the Department of State.

(In English) This press briefing will be conducted in English and Spanish with simultaneous interpretation available to both languages. Please find the globe icon on the lower area of your screen to select your language.

(Via interpreter) This press conference will be in both English and Spanish, with simultaneous interpretation available in both languages. You can select your language, pressing the globe icon that you can find at the lower area of your screen.

We will start a press conference with the opening statement by the Deputy Assistant Secretary Michael Gonzales in Spanish, and then we will move to the questions and - the questions phase for the press, where the deputy assistant secretary will answer in English.

Mr. Deputy Assistant Secretary Gonzales, please, you can start with your opening remarks.

DAS GONZALES: (Via interpreter) Thank you, Natalia. I am happy to be here today. As President Trump said, it is time for America to wage war on the cartels. Well, CJNG, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, we are coming for you. In a historic action supporting President Trump's directive to eliminate narco-terrorist cartels, the Department of State announced more than $100 million in reward money for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of eight leaders and other associates and accomplices of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, CJNG.

This includes a $25 million reward offered for Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez, also known as Pelón, the leader of the CJNG, who rose to power following the death of the cartel's former boss, El Mencho. Pelón and his vicious organization are directly responsible for poisoning American communities with illicit fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, as well as fueling violence. They are responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands, and including American citizens.

We also announced the day before yesterday seven additional rewards, ranging from $2 million to $15 million, each targeting others, among them the high-ranking members of CJNG. These rewards are offered on the Department of State's Narcotic Rewards Program and the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program. These both programs have proven to be highly effective tools in assisting the U.S. law enforcement in identifying and bringing to justice 90 - over 90 major dangerous criminals and paid more than $200 million in reward money.

We will use every tool at our disposal to hunt down, dismantle, and destroy these ruthless foreign terrorist organizations and to defend America from the violence and drugs that have torn apart families and communities. In addition to these rewards, the Department of State is imposing visa restrictions on 65 individuals who are family members or close associates of persons linked to the cartel - this [is] in order to prevent their entry into our country. Twenty-six of those individuals had existing visas which have now been revoked. Under the leadership of Secretary Rubio, the Department of State, together with our U.S. law enforcement partners, will continue to protect our nation, the American people, and our hemisphere from the violence and terror inflicted by CJNG, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación.

But we need help from the public. Anyone with information should contact either the DEA, FBI, or the Homeland Security Investigations. Help us. Help us find and convict these criminals and protect the American people. Thank you. Thank you for being here with us today.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Assistant Secretary. We are now going to start the question and answers section, where the deputy assistant secretary will answer in English.

Dear journalists, we ask each one of you to have your name and affiliation, press affiliation, handy on the platform so we can identify you. Otherwise, we won't be able to call you to participate. In order to make a question, please raise your virtual hand in the platform and when I announce your name we will ask you to speak. Please just ask a single question in a concise manner. If you do not have a microphone, you can make your question - ask your question in written using the Q&A, the question and answers, tab.

Now we're going to start with Galo Arellano from NTN24.

QUESTION: Hello, can you hear me?

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Yes. Go ahead, Galo.

QUESTION: Okay. Perfect. My question is if Mexico is unable to arrest these eight high-priority targets, is the United States prepared to use other tools to protect its national security?

DAS GONZALES: Thank you, Galo. We intend to continue working very closely in collaboration with the Mexican authorities to pursue, identify, capture, and bring to justice these individuals. How we do that will depend on the nature of the information we get and how viable those kinds of actions will be. But we will absolutely work in partnership with our Mexican counterparts to find the most effective way to achieve our national security interests.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Very well. We're going to continue with the next question with Ángel Hernández. Please identify yourself as well as yourself as well as your press organization, please.

QUESTION: Hello, Secretary. This is Ángel Hernández from Millennium, Mexico City. So I was wondering - you said that there were over 60 visa restrictions, be it 26 of those visas were actually revoked. If there is any chance we can know if there are Mexican officials or law enforcement agents who were sanctioned by the State Department, not disclosing their identities, but if there are some Mexican official or law enforcement agent sanctions by this means?

DAS GONZALES: Thank you, Ángel. Our visa restrictions allow for the removal of visas or denial of visas for family members, close associates, and those enabling the narcotrafficking or transnational criminal activities of principal individuals that we are targeting. There are not restrictions on who we can impose those visa restrictions on. At this point, however, we are not releasing the names or any particular affiliations of those individuals.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. I want to remind you that journalists can also ask their questions in Spanish, since we have simultaneous interpretation, both languages. We're going with Glenna Milberg. Please identify your outlet.

QUESTION: Good morning. Glenna Milberg, WPLG Local 10 News in south Florida. My question is: Is this attention to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel one of many? Why particularly this cartel and, for instance, Sinaloa and others in Mexico who pose possibly similar dangers - what is the U.S. operationally doing in that regard? Thank you.

DAS GONZALES: Sure. Thank you, Glenna. We are going after - as the President has directed - all cartels, all narco-terrorist organizations that pose a threat to the United States. Today, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación is the cartel that poses the most significant, severe, and immediate threat to U.S. interests. But we are able to do multiple things at the same time, and so we absolutely are not taking our eyes off the ball in targeting Sinaloa and other cartels, other narco-terrorist organizations.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Okay. Thank you. Now we're going to move on to Matthew Lee. Go ahead, Matthew. Please identify your outlet.

QUESTION: Matthew Lee, Inner City Press. Thanks for doing this. I wanted to ask - the announcement says this is for arrest or conviction in any country. Do you believe all eight - does the U.S. believe all eight are in Mexico? I'm thinking about this Wenshen Xu that was arrested in Honduras. And so I just wonder if there is an international aspect to this, and also whether the UN's - if something called the UN Office of Drugs and Crime - are you working through them? Are they useful at all? Thanks a lot.

DAS GONZALES: Absolutely. We are working and these authorities allow us to work very closely in partnership with counterpart law enforcement agencies in all kinds of countries. These are global tools, and information that we may get may provide information that a targeted individual is in the United States, in Mexico, Colombia, many other places. And so we will use all information we get and track down those leads in partnership with host country law enforcement entities to pursue them wherever we can.

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime, UNODC, is a very capable organization with which this U.S. State Department does partner in lots of capacity building and training and joint operations activities, mostly on the capacity building and capabilities side more than the actual law enforcement operational side. But we take advantage of every opportunity that we have through UNODC and with UNODC in developing relationships with counterpart law enforcement agencies and leveraging those to advance the protection of American citizens.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) We have a question from José Díaz from the newspaper Reforma, from Mexico. Question is: What states within Mexico does U.S. Government suspects they - Pelón may be hiding, the new boss of the CJNG?

DAS GONZALES: I would have to defer you to the U.S. Department of Justice for any information more operational or specific like that.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Now we have Elizabeth Hernández. Please identify your outlet.

QUESTION: Hi. Good morning. I'm Elizabeth Hernández from La Razón, and thanks for taking my question. Juan Carlos Valencia González was born in Santa Anna, California and has been publicly described as a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen. Does the State Department currently recognize him as a U.S. citizen? And if so, and if he still holds the USA citizenship, how does that affect the legal strategy to arrest, prosecute, or otherwise pursue him compared with a cartel leader who's only a Mexican national?

DAS GONZALES: Great. Thank you for that question, Elizabeth. Our authorities allow us to pursue threats to American citizens, whoever they are. In terms of the specifics of how U.S. law enforcement pursue those, again, I would have to defer you to the U.S. Department of Justice. But whether one is a citizen of the United States, a citizen of Mexico, of Bolivia, of Venezuela, joint - dual citizen, is irrelevant. If they pose a threat to American citizens, American communities, we have the ability to target them, as we have shown over and over, and we'll absolutely do that.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Now we're going with Daniel Collín from TN23, Guatemala.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good morning. Daniel Borja from 13 Television from Honduras. I couldn't write down my question. Mr. Deputy Assistant Secretary, how are you going to work - how is it going to work to receive these reports? We know that CJNG has many connections with countries like Peru, Honduras, et cetera. How is this rewards program is going to work to provide these reports, or how to provide the information to the authorities? Thank you.

DAS GONZALES: Great. Excellent question. So for each individual, they are being pursued by different law enforcement agencies - the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (sic), Homeland Security Investigations. And so we would encourage people with information about any of those individuals to contact the respective tip line of the agency. If that is too difficult, 1-800-CALL-FBI is a great first point of entry. If they are overseas, they are also absolutely welcome to contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate, and through our U.S. embassy we can connect with the appropriate U.S. law enforcement agency.

So again, it doesn't matter if you are in the United States or where around the world that you may be; if you have information, absolutely reach out to either the embassies or contact the U.S. law enforcement agencies directly.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Now, yes, we are going to open the microphone to Mr. Collín from Guatemala. I'm sorry, I apologize for the mistake. You can now use your microphone.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good morning. Can you hear me?

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Yes, go ahead.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good morning. What kind of coordination you will have with Guatemala? Because we can see that the U.S. agencies are coordinating with the government, and specifically with these groups - regarding these groups related to the narcotraffic, since we have been seeing coordination with majors, local authorities, and these have been expanding in Guatemalan territory at the border with Mexico. What kind of strategies have you been adopting to fight these criminal groups? Thank you.

DAS GONZALES: Sure. The U.S. State Department, U.S. law enforcement agencies, U.S. Government writ large has longstanding relationships with our counterparts in Guatemala and most countries around the world. And so those relationships extend at the head of state level frequently, at the ministry of justice level often, certainly at the levels of individual law enforcement agencies.

And so the specific tactics that U.S. law enforcement or diplomats may engage in in Guatemala or any other particular country, I would have to refer to the Department of Justice or the specific agency. But our engagements with these countries are robust, are long-lasting, based on relationships that serve the interests and the security of the people of the United States and the U.S. as a country - but also the countries of our partner nations and the publics in those countries.

And so we absolutely identify what are our joint interests, where do we see mutual threats, and where we can we absolutely work together with our partners to respond to those.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Okay, thank you. Now we're going to read a few written questions that were received through the question-and-answer section in Zoom. We have a question from Sofia Pisani, who does not have audio. She is a journalist from Univision in D.C. "Did you consider that any other countries besides Mexico should collaborate in the capture of these possible leaders of the drug-trafficking organizations and how that relationship would look like?"

DAS GONZALES: Sure. Again, the rewards programs that we have in place are seeking information leading to the arrest and conviction - anywhere in the world - of the individuals that we have identified. Many of them, because of the organization with which they are affiliated, we assume will be living in Mexico, but they can be in plenty of other places around the hemisphere, around the world.

And so our U.S. law enforcement agencies, as I've just said, have longstanding, robust relationships with counterpart law enforcement agencies in countries throughout the Americas and around the world. And so we leverage those partnerships - often authorities, U.S. law enforcement authorities working out of U.S. embassies hand in glove, living in those countries. And so we work with them to find and collaborate with host governments, host government law enforcement agencies where we - ever we possibly can, to yield the result that we're aiming for, which, again, is the arrest, the capture, the conviction of individuals who pose threats to the United States. And again, because they likely also often pose threats to the people and nations with whom we are partnering, that collaboration very frequently is quite fruitful.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Now we have a question from Andrés Fidanza from El Salvador. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Hi, thanks a lot. I want to know - with more than 100 million in reward, how do you insurance the safety, the legal protection, the immigration status of informants in Mexico and other countries? And what timeline do you have to pay the - and criteria also to pay the reward? Thanks.

DAS GONZALES: Andrés, thank you for that question. As you can imagine, the nature of the informants and how we deal with them is incredibly sensitive, because often people are putting themselves at risk, but they're also doing so to protect their communities, themselves, their countries.

And so I will say that we absolutely do communicate with the informants. That's how we get the information and that's how also we share with them any kinds of modalities that we may put in place to support their protection, their anonymity, the link that they may have to the reward program. All of that is very closely held.

And so, like I say, to date more than $200 million of reward money has been paid. More than 90 violent criminals have been brought to justice, in part at least through information provided because of these rewards programs. We use these rewards programs because they work. We use these rewards programs also because they work for the people who provide us the information. We do protect them.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Now I'm going to read a question from a journalist, but a message for all the journalists, please: If you do have a microphone, you get - want to ask your question, please raise your virtual hand. And for the rest, I'm going to read this question from Ricardo Trejo from Enfoque Noticias Radio in Mexico. Question is: "You in the U.S., do you believe that Mexico has the ability and the will to face the drug cartels?"

DAS GONZALES: We absolutely recognize that President Claudia Sheinbaum has committed publicly to combating illicit drugs, illicit fentanyl production; to increase seizures. She - under her leadership, Mexico has supported historic transfers and apprehensions of criminals and narco-terrorists.

At the same time, more must be done to confront the shared threats that we face. Structural challenges absolutely remain, and the continued flow of deadly drugs across our border requires a comprehensive approach to counter the influence of criminal organizations in parts of Mexico and instances of corruption with some institutions. But with our Mexican counterparts, we absolutely aim to strengthen that security cooperation, to strengthen and embolden law enforcement operations and criminal prosecutions while pursuing our policies to incentivize stronger, swifter action against drug production and trafficking. Our goal remains to reduce the devastating impact of illicit fentanyl and other drugs on American communities, and we value the partnership with Mexican authorities in achieving that.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. We have a question, an audio question, as well as another written question. These will be the very last two questions today. I have a question I'm going to read from Jorge Isaac Jiménez from Radio America from Venezuela: "Do you have information on the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, whether - regarding whether they have any connection to the Soles in Venezuela or any other cartel in Venezuela? And what is the current status of the Soles from Venezuela?"

DAS GONZALES: Yeah. Jorge, thank you for that question. In terms of the specific linkages between organizations like that, I would have to defer you to the U.S. law enforcement or the U.S. Department of Justice.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Now we'll go with Abel Fernández. Please identify your outlet.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Hi, I'm Abel Fernández from El País. My question is regarding the restrictions. The Department of State is anticipating any changes, any changes to travel advisories in Mexico, specifically Jalisco? And are you going to reconsider traveling or are you anticipating any retaliation from the cartels? Thank you.

DAS GONZALES: Great. Thank you, Abel. I'm a long fan and reader and listener to El País. In terms of travel advisories, that's an issue that U.S. embassies and we here in the State Department are constantly following. We follow the information that we have as well as the actions on the ground that would justify any kind of shift from what advice we provide to American citizens. And so are we considering that? We're always considering that in every part of the world based on the dynamics at play.

At this point, I have not heard of an immediate reaction that would warrant a change. But that could change today. It could change in a couple of months. It may not change. And so I would encourage Americans who are considering traveling to Mexico, anywhere in Mexico, anywhere in the world, before they travel look at the State Department's website and understand what are the risks and the advice that the State Department provides to people traveling, whether it's to that country or to that subpart province, state, city in a country, to make sure that you are maximally informed about the risks that you may face and how to protect yourself.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you so much. So this is how we are closing this virtual press conference, and I thank the journalists, international journalists. It has been a pleasure to have the Assistant Deputy Secretary Gonzales. We want to remind you that the transcription of this press conference will be published at the Spanish website of the Department of State. If you have any questions regarding today's press conference, you can contact the Media Hub in Miami by email, [email protected]. Miami H-U-B at state.gov. See you next time. Thank you.

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