US sanctions Mexico’s Familia Michoacana drug cartel

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department has slapped sanctions on Mexico’s Familia Michoacana drug cartel, which it accused of manufacturing so-called rainbow fentanyl pills purportedly aimed at children. On Thursday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control blocked any U.S. properties of the Hurtado brothers, the leaders of the cartel. The cartel is often known as “The New Michoacan Family,” to distinguish it from an older gang that was largely expelled from the western state of Michoacan in the mid 2010s. There has been debate about whether the multicolored fentanyl pills that have appeared in the U.S. market are designed to attract children, or simply to distinguish the gang’s brand.