Feds Sanction Marquez as Involved in Drug Trafficking

Congrats!

 

I'm gonna give it 24 hours in case the US has mistaken identity with regards to Rafa Marquez, but damn.

 

Rough couple weeks for Mexico fans.

 

Past few weeks for Mexico fans:
Lost Gold Cup to Jamaica
2 players chose USMNT
Rafa Márquez is a drug trafficker pic.twitter.com/XyJCBHI1ep

— ⌬ Christian Candler (@candlerneuro) August 9, 2017

The two players refer to Jesse Gonzalez of FC Dallas, who was arguably Mexico's brightest young goalkeeper, and Jonathan Gonzalez of Monterrey, who is rated by ESPN as one of the top three teenage players in all of LigaMX. Both have chosen the US.

 

Here's the official tweet from the US Treasury Dept:

895333012446920704 is not a valid tweet id

"Rafael MARQUEZ ALVAREZ
aka Rafa MARQUEZ
DOB: 13 Feb 1979 (Michoacan)"
And he appears to have at least two henchmen.

 

nah.. this is just the u.s.' way of taking apart the national team since they can't do it on the pitch

— 🌵 (@abrahahaam) August 9, 2017

 

Based on the link, it looks like Marquez's school and his charity are accused of having connections to Raul Flores Hernandez, a drug kingpin.

It is possible that it's a misunderstanding; the Kingpin Act, under which the action was authorized, establishes a relatively low bar for assets being frozen - the Treasury Department is given broad powers to freeze assets based on suspicion, no judge or warrant required.

However, I would speculate that this is something more similar to the situation in Colombia and Colombian soccer in the late 80's-early 90's. The drug cartels invested a lot of money into their local communities, especially into athletics - and their presence was so pervasive that football organizations couldn't avoid being plugged into those networks, either directly or through intermediaries. Knowingly or unknowingly (or kinda knowingly, but willfully ignoringly), the various clubs, leagues, and foundations all developed financial connections of some sort to the cartels.

In present day, in some parts of Mexico, the drug groups are strong enough that they may be similarly difficult to avoid. I also have doubts that Marquez is actively involved in the financial dealings of his charity and school and probably has guys who he pays to handle that for him.

The guy is a professional footballer. No disrespect, but I have doubts whether he has the free time, business acumen, or general knowledge to actively promote the trafficking of narcotics.

 

I'll wait for more to come of this, but damn if Rafa was involved in drug trafficking he's a f**king moron

 

The (2011) chickens have finally come home to roost.

 

Entirely uninformed speculation on my part, so yeah - it might turn out that Marquez is very much complicit ... which would mean he's incredibly stupid.

 

And two of their best midfielders sign in MLS (Carlos Vela and J. dos Santos)

 

They're bringing crime, they're bringing drugs, and some of them, I assume, are good people.

 

Whatever. The USA holds the trophy. Mexico does not. Blame Jamaica for that, not us.

 

With the current state of Mexico, did nobody expect something like this?

Im surprised its only Rafa.

 

Was this supposed to be sarcastic?

 

I was referring to this.

 

I know, I'm just saying, that statement is idiotic so you'd have to be using it in sarcasm.