Ex-Guatemalan Mayor Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking, Used Official Letterhead to Disguise Cocaine as ‘Cement Donation’

WASHINGTON – Romeo Ramos Cruz, 58, a former mayor of Santa Lucia municipality in Guatemala, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine into the United States, federal prosecutors announced.

Ramos Cruz was extradited to the United States on Aug. 4, 2025, following his detention in Guatemala at the request of U.S. authorities. According to court documents, from 2022 through 2023, Ramos Cruz served as a member of a Guatemala-based drug trafficking organization responsible for transporting cocaine intended for U.S. markets while simultaneously holding public office as mayor of Santa Lucia in Guatemala’s Escuintla Department.

Prosecutors allege that Ramos Cruz exploited his official position to facilitate the organization’s operations. In furtherance of the conspiracy, he appointed a known drug trafficker to a high-ranking position in the municipal police force and used his authority and access as mayor to coordinate logistics and transportation for a cocaine shipment destined for the United States. As part of the scheme, Ramos Cruz agreed to help disguise the shipment, which originated from Venezuela, as a donation of cement to his municipality. He prepared a letter on official municipal letterhead intended to help the shipment evade inspection by Guatemalan authorities.

Ramos Cruz now faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. Sentencing has been set for Dec. 2.

Barrio Azteca Lookout Pleads Guilty in 2010 Murders of U.S. Consulate Employee, Husband, and Spouse of Another Employee

EL PASO, Texas – Enrique Guajardo Lopez, 59, a member of the Barrio Azteca gang, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to racketeering conspiracy and drug trafficking conspiracy charges, admitting his role as a lookout in the March 13, 2010, murders of a U.S. Consulate Juarez employee, her husband, and the husband of another consulate employee.

Lopez, also known as “Kiki,” of Juarez, Mexico, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to court documents, Lopez is among 35 Barrio Azteca members and associates charged in a 2011 superseding indictment with a range of criminal acts, including racketeering, narcotics distribution, retaliation against witnesses, extortion, money laundering, and murder. Of that group, 10 Mexican nationals were specifically charged for the March 13, 2010, killings of Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, a U.S. Consulate employee; her husband Arthur Redelfs; and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, husband of another consulate employee. To date, all defendants have been apprehended; 30 have pleaded guilty, three have been convicted at trial, one committed suicide before trial concluded, and one remains pending trial.

The Barrio Azteca (BA) is a violent street and prison gang that emerged in the late 1980s and evolved into a transnational criminal organization. In the 2000s, BA formed an alliance with “La Linea,” a faction of the Juarez Drug Cartel, to battle the Chapo Guzman Cartel and its allies for control of drug trafficking routes through the Juarez Plaza, a principal conduit for illicit drugs into the United States.

The gang operates under a militaristic structure comprising captains, lieutenants, sergeants, and soldiers, with the aim of maintaining power and enriching members through drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, violence, and murder. BA members conducted enforcement operations for the cartel, including acting as hit men. On the day of the consulate murders, Lopez served as a lookout for other BA members who targeted and killed the victims. Enriquez was four months pregnant at the time of her death; the fetus also died.