TOPSHOT - A Colombian Army soldier stands next to packages of seized cocaine during a press conference at a Military Base in Bahia Solano, department of Choco, Colombia, on March 14, 2015. A joint operation between Colombia's Army and Air Force, intercepted a boat near the municipality of Nuqui, west of the country, with 583 kilos of cocaine which, according to authorities, belonged to the criminal gang "Clan Usuga" and was going to be sent to Central America. AFP PHOTO / LUIS ROBAYO (Photo by Luis ROBAYO / AFP) (Photo by LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images)
San Diego, California – A long-running international investigation into a Guatemala-based cocaine trafficking ring took a dramatic turn this week, as a federal indictment unsealed Friday in San Diego named 13 Guatemalan nationals allegedly tied to a powerful smuggling organization operating near the Guatemala-Mexico border.
The group, centered in the remote towns of La Mesilla and Democracia in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, allegedly trafficked massive quantities of cocaine from Central America through Mexico and into the United States. The indictment, originally filed on May 31, 2019, reveals a sprawling family-run network deeply entrenched in the transnational drug trade.
At the center of the charges was Baldemar Calderon-Carrillo, known as “Don Valde,” described by authorities as the lead figure in the organization. On June 13, U.S. agents were informed that Calderon-Carrillo had been killed in a shootout with Mexican authorities just days earlier, on June 8. Video circulating on social media appears to show Mexican law enforcement exchanging gunfire with suspected members of a drug trafficking group, though officials say they are still working to confirm details surrounding his death.
The indictment paints a portrait of a multigenerational criminal enterprise. Calderon-Carrillo’s son, Edgar Yovani Calderon-Calderon—known as “Panon”—was arrested in Paris in early 2023 and extradited to the United States in March 2024. He pleaded guilty this past February to international cocaine distribution conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 87 months in prison on May 30.
According to his plea agreement, Edgar Calderon-Calderon admitted to helping distribute at least 550 kilograms of cocaine in Guatemala between 2017 and 2019, fully aware the drugs were destined for the U.S. market. He described a supply chain that moved cocaine from the highlands of Huehuetenango to associates along the Mexico-Guatemala border, and eventually across the U.S. border.
The remaining defendants, including another of Calderon-Carrillo’s sons, Walfre Donaldo Calderon-Calderon (also known as “El Teniente Jr.”), remain at large. They face charges ranging from conspiracy to distribute cocaine internationally to possession with intent to distribute cocaine aboard maritime vessels. If convicted, they face potential life sentences and fines up to $10 million.
The case is part of a broader effort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations division to dismantle the drug corridors that continue to funnel narcotics from Latin America into American cities—corridors that remain active, even when kingpins fall.
