Horacio De la Cruz Mazariegos, alias ““Snacks”, He is identified by United States authorities as an alleged regional operator of the faction the Mays of the Sinaloa cartel in southern Mexico. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), he faces federal charges in the Southern District of Texas for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances for the purpose of illegal importation and for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
According to the DEA report, De la Cruz Mazariegos allegedly controls the border between Chiapas, Mexico, and Guatemala and is identified as responsible for facilitating the transfer of multi-ton cocaine shipments from South and Central America destined for the United States.
The US agency also links the organization to transnational drug trafficking and extortion, in addition to attributing to it the use of transporting large amounts of cash, bank accounts to channel funds, front companies and real estate investments to launder profits derived from the sale of cocaine.
The investigations of the Mexican authorities locate the Snacks as one of the main criminal operators on the southern border. In 2025, the attorney general of Chiapas, Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca, stated that De la Cruz Mazariegos resides in Guatemala to evade the Mexican authoritiesalthough it maintains influence in border municipalities such as Frontera Hidalgo, Suchiate, Tapachula, Cacahoatán, Metapa de Domínguez and Unión Juárez.
According to the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Mexico, security forces have carried out operations in Chiapas against the structure led by“The Botanas”. One of them occurred on May 8, when they carried out five searches in properties located in Tuxtla Chico, Metapa de Domínguez and Frontera Hidalgo, allegedly linked to De la Cruz Mazariegos.
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During these actions, Carmen Yadira Rodas Mateo and Felipe de Jesús Rascón Peralta were arrested, identified as members of the Maysfrom the Sinaloa cartel. Mexican media reports indicate that “The Botanas” He managed to escape minutes before the arrival of federal forces.
The war between “the Mayos” and the CJNG
The violence attributed to the dispute between criminal organizations in Chiapas, Mexico, has also had repercussions in Guatemala. Between 2024 and 2025, nearly 600 Mexican citizens sought refuge in Guatemalan territory in two displacements. The first occurred in July 2024, with the entry of some 500 people to Cuilco, Huehuetenango. The second was recorded in August 2025, when about 100 Mexicans took refuge in a school in the Guailá villagein La Democracia, Huehuetenango, after fleeing clashes between organized crime groups.
Investigations by the Mexican authorities attribute the exodus of those 600 people to Huehuetenango, Guatemala, to the territorial struggle between the Mays and the sign Jalisco New Generation (CJNG).
According to the DEA, Horacio De la Cruz Mazariegos continues to be one of the objectives of the US authorities. According to the investigations, the alleged operator of the Mays It moves between Mexico and Guatemala, where it maintains influence in the border region.