Former Barcelona Player accused of being front For Drug Cartel

Rafael Marquez,captain of Mexico’s national football team is being sanctioned by the United States for allegedly being a “front” for a major drug-trafficking cartel.

The US treasury department for sanctions singled out Rafael Marquez, Julio Cesar Alvarez, a Mexican singer and 19 other people while 42 organisations made the list.

They are all accused of having ties with alleged drug trafficker Raul Flores Hernadez.

Both he and Rafael Marquez are accused, in a US treasury department statement, of having “longstanding relationships with Flores Hernandez… acted as front persons for him and his DTO [drug-trafficking organisation] and held assets on their behalf”.

According to the statement, the ruling is meant that any assets of theirs under US jurisdiction or controlled by people in the US would be frozen.

Rafael Marquez, 38, has represented Mexico in four World Cups and won over 140 international caps in two decades with the national side.

Having played for European club sides Monaco and Barcelona, where he won the Spanish league four times and the Champions League twice, the defender returned to Mexico in 2015 to rejoin his first club Atlas, where he remains captain.