A former Sinaloa cartel leader said a recent U.S. airstrike that killed 11 people aboard a suspected trafficking vessel sends a strong message to criminal networks and urged U.S. authorities to focus on cutting off cartel cash flows.
Margarito “Jay” Flores Jr., who has acknowledged making millions alongside his twin brother as members of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel, told Fox News on Sunday that an aggressive approach is the only method that will work against transnational crime syndicates. "I think the aggressive approach is going to send a strong message to every drug trafficker across Latin America and places like Venezuela that’s used as a transport hub," Flores said.
U.S. officials say they authorized an airstrike Sept. 2 on an alleged drug-trafficking boat operating in the Caribbean; U.S. authorities said the strike killed nearly a dozen people suspected of belonging to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Venezuelan officials, including the interior minister, have denied the victims were gang members and accused the United States of killing Venezuelan citizens.
Flores told the television show "Fox & Friends" that the United States should go after the cartels’ money to inflict lasting damage on the organizations. He recommended tightening security at southern border checkpoints to detect large amounts of cash being smuggled out of the United States, which he described as "the lifeblood of the criminal enterprise." "They're going after everyone," he said. "It doesn't matter if you're a president of a country or a drug trafficker. There's a lot of fearful drug traffickers."
The strike forms part of what the Trump administration has described as an escalated campaign against drug trafficking in the region. The White House and U.S. military have signaled a willingness to take unilateral action against trafficking networks, and the administration has warned similar strikes could occur again as part of efforts to disrupt supply chains and stop illegal fentanyl shipments to the United States.
U.S. officials and news reports say the administration will deploy F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico and has moved additional naval assets to the region in recent weeks as part of the campaign. The U.S. Navy has also repositioned multiple warships to Central American waters, according to defense officials and media accounts. President Donald Trump has further warned he could shoot down Venezuelan military aircraft after recent flights near U.S. naval vessels.
Tren de Aragua, which originated in Venezuela, has been implicated by U.S. and regional authorities in kidnapping, extortion and narcotics trafficking across parts of Latin America. Venezuelan officials have repeatedly disputed some international characterizations of the group and have demanded investigations into the Sept. 2 incident.
Flores’s praise for the strike came as part of a broader public debate over how the United States should disrupt international trafficking networks — whether through military strikes, tighter border controls, financial sanctions or cooperative law enforcement operations with regional partners. Flores emphasized the need to interdict cash flows, saying money smuggled south from the United States sustains cartel operations.
Legal experts and regional officials have said cutting off revenues remains central to weakening organized-crime groups, but they also note that such efforts typically require coordinated financial investigations, cross-border cooperation and sustained interdiction at multiple points in trafficking routes. The U.S. strike and the accompanying escalation have prompted calls from some outside observers for transparency, accountability and verification of the identities of those killed.
The U.S. Department of Defense and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Flores’s remarks or on operational details beyond previously released statements about the Sept. 2 strike. Venezuelan authorities have called for an independent probe into the incident and maintained their contention that the deceased were civilians.
The clash over narrative and accountability follows months of intensified U.S. attention on drug trafficking across the Western Hemisphere as officials cite rising deaths from synthetic opioids and other illicit substances. Flores’s public support of the Pentagon’s tactics underscores a rare alignment between a former cartel figure and a U.S. administration pursuing a more forceful approach to transnational narcotics organizations.
