U.S. authorities have detained Eugenio Molina-Lopez, a suspected Guatemalan drug kingpin with a $10 million bounty on his head, the Central American nation’s U.S. Embassy announced. The arrest took place in San Diego, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
Molina-Lopez is accused of leading Los Huistas gang, which allegedly trafficked cocaine from South America to Mexican cartels and then to the U.S., carrying a possible life sentence if convicted. He pleaded not guilty during a federal court appearance on Friday.
Los Huistas operates in northwestern Guatemala near the border with Mexico. In March 2022, the United States imposed sanctions against Los Huistas, describing it as the dominant criminal structure in the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango. The top leader of Los Huistas and one of Washington’s top 100 most-wanted fugitives, Aler Baldomero Samayoa, was captured in Mexico and deported to Guatemala in March 2025.
According to the U.S. Treasury, Los Huistas smuggles cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin from its base in northern Guatemala to the U.S., using Mexican cartels such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Ninety percent of the cocaine that reaches the U.S. passes through Central America and Mexico in trucks, aircraft, boats, and submarines, according to U.S. officials.
The arrest was announced just one day after a top Jalisco cartel leader with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head was captured while hiding in a ditch in Mexico.