The rise of Isel Súñiga in cocaine trafficking

The United States identified Isel Súñiga, daughter of the former mayor of Ayutla, as the leader of the criminal organization involved in cocaine trafficking.

In order to traffic drugs from Central America to the United States, the Sinaloa Cartel has established ties with criminal groups in other countries that help it operate internationally. Their foreign collaborators include “Los Pochos,” a Guatemalan criminal group supported by local authorities.

Los Pochos is identified as an organization dedicated to trafficking cocaine from Guatemala to the United States, using Mexico as a transit base. Its name derives from the pseudonym of its leader: Erik Salvador Súñiga Rodríguez, better known as “Pocho”.

Erik served as mayor of Ayutla from 2008 to 2019, during which time he developed ties to the Sinaloa cartel. Through his political position, he used corrupt judicial officials to carry out his criminal operations. As a result, in 2018, the Eastern District of Texas filed suit against “Pocho.”

Erik decided to turn himself in to the Guatemalan authorities and in December 2019 he was extradited to the United States, where he died of cancer in April 2020. After his death, the management of Los Pochos passed into the hands of his daughter Isel Anel Súñiga Morfín, who represented Guatemala in the Miss Universe competition in 2017, when she was 23, before becoming mayor of Ayutla.

Initially, Isel shared management of Los Pochos with his partner Juan José Morales Cifuentes, aka “Pancho”. However, he was arrested in December 2023 on the main boulevard of Ciudad San Cristobal, zone 8 of Mixco. On May 16, he was extradited to the United States, as he is also wanted by the Eastern District of Texas.

Ties between Los Pochos and the Sinaloa Cartel

Reports from the US Department of Justice indicate the relationship between Los Pochos and the so-called Pacific Cartel. Their connection is linked to the arrival of cocaine in the United States.

Los Pochos are responsible for controlling the passage of drugs through the department of San Marcos, in addition to controlling the roads that connect this area to the border between Guatemala and Mexico, through the state of Chiapas. Their operations include Ayutla and the city of Tecún Umán.

Its ties to the Sinaloa Cartel lie primarily in the storage and supply of drugs. According to American justice, Mexican drug traffickers pay a sort of “tax” to Los Pochos to store cocaine in the border towns of San Marcos and Tecún Umán.

“The organization purchases approximately 4,000 kilograms of cocaine per month, for a total of approximately 48,000 kilograms per year, and is responsible for supplying several high-level Guatemalan and Mexican drug traffickers, including executives of cartels based in Mexico,” reads one of the Justice Department reports. .

Sinaloa cartel leaders who receive cocaine from Los Pochos benefit from a transportation infrastructure to get the drug to consumers in the United States, such as in the state of Texas.

Although the two main leaders of Los Pochos (Salvador Súñiga and Juan José Morales) no longer work for the organization, Isel allegedly uses his political influence to continue his illicit activities, in collusion with officials, the police, the army and the Guatemalan prosecutors.