Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel Map & Profile 2026: Leaders, Territory and U.S. Charges

What official records and reporting say about the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel: who leads it, where it is reported to operate, and how the U.S. has targeted it. Territory and leadership change fast, so each item links to its source and shows dates as reported. Allegations are as stated by the source; people who are charged are presumed innocent until convicted.

All cartel profiles

Names and aliases

• The group is formally called the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima, abbreviated CSRL, in U.S. Treasury sanctions documents. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• The cartel takes its name from the community of Santa Rosa de Lima in Guanajuato, where its original members are from. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• The cartel's core turf is nicknamed the Bermuda Triangle, a cluster of Guanajuato municipalities holding a Pemex refinery and many Pemex pipelines. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• Spanish-language sources style the group as Cártel de Santa Rosa de Lima, the form used by Mexican authorities and press. [Wikipedia]

Origins

• The U.S. Treasury dates the cartel's origins to 2014, when it emerged in Guanajuato as a fuel-theft organization. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• From the start the group's main income was oil theft rather than drug trafficking, which later drew it into war with the CJNG. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• The cartel was founded by José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, known as El Marro, and is based in the town of Santa Rosa de Lima, Guanajuato. [Wikipedia]
• El Marro was active as a criminal figure from about 2010 and led the cartel from roughly 2017 until his 2020 capture. [Wikipedia]

Leadership

• In January 2022 a Guanajuato court sentenced El Marro to 60 years in prison after finding him guilty of kidnapping. (as of 2026-09-30) [Reuters via 101.9 Jack FM, 2022-01-14]
• According to the U.S. Treasury, El Marro remains active in CSRL from inside prison, passing instructions to collaborators through lawyers and family members. (as of 2025-12-17) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• While incarcerated, El Marro allegedly helped broker the alliance between CSRL and the Gulf Cartel. (as of 2025-12-17) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• The 60-year kidnapping sentence against El Marro was ratified on appeal in October 2022. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime]
• El Marro was captured on August 2, 2020 in Juventino Rosas, Guanajuato, by state and federal forces along with five other people. (as of 2026-09-30) [Wikipedia]
• After El Marro's 2020 arrest, leadership reportedly passed to his sister Karem Lizbeth Yépez Ortiz, known as La Señora. (as of 2026-09-30) [San Miguel Post, 2024-12-22]
• Pedro N, alias Don Pedro, the alleged CSRL plaza boss in Dolores Hidalgo, was arrested on October 2, 2024 by the Army and the National Guard's FERI unit. (as of 2026-09-30) [The World News Today (translating El Universal; reported by Borderland Beat contributor), 2024-10-02]
• Norma Idalia N, alias La Italiana, described as a key logistics operator under La Señora, was arrested with six alleged accomplices on December 20, 2024 in Jaralillo after a shootout with the Army and National Guard. (as of 2026-09-30) [San Miguel Post, 2024-12-22]

Factions and splits

• Through September 2026, public reporting describes no named breakaway faction of CSRL; it is consistently treated as a single organization centered on the Yépez Ortiz family network. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• After the 2020 and 2024 arrests, reporting depicts CSRL operating through family-linked cells — La Señora at the top, operators like La Italiana, and plaza bosses like Don Pedro — rather than a single intact hierarchy. (as of 2026-09-30) [San Miguel Post, 2024-12-22]

Allies and rivals

• CSRL allied itself with the Gulf Cartel in its fight against the CJNG, an alliance El Marro allegedly helped establish from prison. (as of 2025-12-17) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• The Treasury also reports CSRL allied with the Sinaloa Cartel against the CJNG; both the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels are U.S.-designated FTOs. (as of 2025-12-17) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• CSRL's principal rival is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), with which it has waged a turf war since October 2017 over fuel and oil theft. (as of 2025-12-17) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• El Universal reporting describes a CSRL alliance with the Cártel del Pacífico to confront the CJNG in Guanajuato; this may overlap with the Sinaloa alliance reported by Treasury. (as of 2026-09-30) [The World News Today (translating El Universal; reported by Borderland Beat contributor), 2024-10-02]
• Tertiary sources list Los Zetas as a historical rival of CSRL, though recent reporting centers the rivalry on the CJNG. (as of 2026-09-30) [Wikipedia]

What it does

• Industrial-scale theft of fuel and petroleum (huachicol) is CSRL's main revenue source; Treasury calls it the group's vast majority of illicit income. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• Reported huachicol methods include bribing Pemex employees, drilling clandestine pipeline taps, stealing from refineries, hijacking tanker trucks, and threatening energy workers. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• Beyond fuel theft, CSRL traffics narcotics, including moving heroin into the United States. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• Kidnapping is among CSRL's documented crimes: El Marro was convicted of kidnapping, and a kidnapped businesswoman was rescued during his 2020 arrest. [Reuters via 101.9 Jack FM, 2022-01-14]
• Treasury notes El Marro still faces accusations of organized crime, money laundering, illegal fuel extraction, and attempted homicide. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• Investigators link CSRL figures to systematic extortion, including monthly shakedowns of government authorities to divert public resources. [The World News Today (translating El Universal; reported by Borderland Beat contributor), 2024-10-02]

U.S. designations, sanctions and charges

• On December 17, 2025, OFAC designated CSRL under Executive Order 13851 as a significant transnational criminal organization. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• OFAC also designated José Antonio Yépez Ortiz on December 17, 2025 under E.O. 13581 for acting for or on behalf of CSRL. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• Treasury states CSRL's fuel-theft operations sustain a cross-border energy black market that undermines legitimate U.S. oil and gas companies and deprives Mexico of critical revenue. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• CSRL was not among the eight Latin American criminal organizations the U.S. designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations in February 2025; its U.S. designation is an OFAC sanctions listing, not an FTO listing. [Associated Press via SRN News, 2025-03-27]

Key events

• In October 2017 CSRL declared war on the CJNG for control of fuel and oil theft in Guanajuato's Bermuda Triangle. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• On August 2, 2020, El Marro was arrested in Juventino Rosas and a kidnapped 50-year-old businesswoman from Apaseo el Alto was rescued in the operation. [Reuters via 101.9 Jack FM, 2022-01-14]
• In August 2025 Mexican authorities detained CSRL members and seized 164,000 liters of stolen hydrocarbons along with tanks, tanker trucks, and a clandestine pipeline tap device. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-12-17]
• In January 2022 El Marro received a 60-year sentence plus a 347,520-peso fine, with no eligibility for conditional sentence, commutation, community work substitution, or semi-parole. [BlazeTrends (citing La Jornada), 2022-01-15]
• On October 2, 2024, Army and National Guard forces arrested alleged plaza boss Don Pedro in Dolores Hidalgo, seizing military-grade weapons, magazines, and cartridges. [The World News Today (translating El Universal; reported by Borderland Beat contributor), 2024-10-02]
• On December 20, 2024, La Italiana and six alleged accomplices were captured in Jaralillo after opening fire on an Army and National Guard patrol near a clandestine hydrocarbon storage site. [San Miguel Post, 2024-12-22]

Where it operates in Mexico

• CSRL operates primarily in Guanajuato, with reported presence in Celaya, Irapuato, Salamanca, Salvatierra, Santa Rosa de Lima, Juventino Rosas, Apaseo el Alto, Apaseo el Grande, San Miguel Octopan, Cortazar, and Villagrán. (as of 2026-09-30) [Wikipedia]

Reported presence by Mexican state

Last reviewed: September 30, 2026. Territory, leadership and advisories change; tell us about errors via our corrections page.