The US sentences the operator of “The Iron Lady” to 14 years in prison for international cocaine trafficking
The conviction, according to the DOJ, frames the strategy to pursue criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and human trafficking.
A Mexican citizen identified as Jesús Rauda-Ávila, 46, was sentenced in the United States to 14 years in prison for his participation in a conspiracy to import approximately 1,900 kilograms of cocaine into the country, the US Department of Justice reported this Tuesday.
The sentence was handed down in the Eastern District of Virginia as a result of an investigation coordinated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) and other US federal agencies.
According to court documents, Rauda-Ávila operated as a key logistical link within a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization headed by Marisela Flores Torruco, known to authorities as “The Iron Lady.”
According to the indictment, the criminal network coordinated the transfer of large shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Central America and Mexico with final destinations in different parts of the United States, including New York and Texas.
During the investigation, authorities seized significant drug shipments, including approximately 971 kilograms of cocaine in April 2017 and another 500 kilograms in May of that same year, operations that prosecutors directly linked to the organization.
“Jesús Rauda-Ávila conspired with a drug trafficking organization to import almost 2,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, A. Tysen Duva. The official added that “this level of importation by Mexican drug trafficking organizations is the root of the entry of drugs and violence into our communities.”
According to court records, between 2016 and October 2017 Rauda-Ávila coordinated the transportation of money, drivers and vehicles within Mexico to complete the purchase, mobilization and delivery of cocaine shipments destined for the US market.
Prosecutors maintained that he participated in at least ten drug acquisition operations, each of them related to shipments of between 100 and 400 kilograms of cocaine. Its function was to guarantee the necessary logistics to move narcotics from southern Mexico to the northern border before entering the United States.
Rauda-Ávila pleaded guilty to the crime of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, which allowed progress towards the sentence announced this week.