Reported by JIM MORRIS Associated Press

Canada is designating seven Latin American criminal organizations as terrorist entities under the country’s Criminal Code, giving Canadian law enforcement another tool in the fight against fentanyl trafficking, Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said Thursday.

The list includes Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel and La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and was announced a day after the U.S. government formally designated eight Latin American organized crime groups as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

The announcement was Canada’s latest response to U.S. President Donald Trump ‘s claim that the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigration into the U.S. were behind his threats of imposing a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods – with the exception of 10% on energy.

The other organizations designated as terrorist groups are Cartel del Golfo and Carteles Unidos, also from Mexico; Tren de Aragua, in Venezuela, and the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, which started in California but became a dominant criminal force in El Salvador.

The designation effectively freezes a group’s assets and property.

Read full reports: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/International/wireStory/us-lead-canada-designates-7-latin-american-criminal-119025109 AND https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2025/02/government-of-canada-lists-transnational-criminal-organizations-as-terrorist-entities.html