MEXICO CITY

Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) froze the assets of a member of the lower house of Congress from the ruling Morena party Thursday following allegations by the US Treasury Department that she has ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.

Lawmaker Hilda Araceli Brown is among 22 individuals and companies targeted by the UIF who have been described by the US as aiding the operations of a powerful faction of Mexico’s most notorious drug cartel.

The US government alleges that Brown is part of a criminal network based in the small municipality of Playas de Rosarito, located around 15 miles south of California in the northwestern part of the Mexican state of Baja California.

According to US authorities, Brown was an active player in the region’s criminal underworld during her time as mayor of Playas de Rosarito. They claim she supported the Sinaloa Cartel’s operations by exerting political influence and control in the region to further the group’s criminal enterprises.

In addition to Brown, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has also sanctioned several prominent businesspeople and political associates connected to her, accusing them of being part of the same criminal network.

The network is allegedly controlled by Los Mayos, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel loyal to former cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who pleaded guilty to US drug trafficking charges in August and is currently in federal custody and scheduled to be sentenced in January 2026.

Including Brown, Mexico has frozen the assets of seven individuals and 15 companies. The move is being hailed as part of the deepening cooperation between Mexican and US authorities.

“The inclusion of international lists issued by foreign authorities allows the UIF to act in coordination with the Mexican financial system to prevent illicit resources from being introduced or dispersed in the national economy,” the statement said.