[4], The Mexican Federal Police considers the cartel to have been disbanded,[170][171] and the last cartel leader, Héctor Beltrán Leyva, was captured in October 2014.[172]. [352] In September 2011, user NenaDLaredo of the website Nuevo Laredo Envivo was allegedly murdered by the Zetas. Formerly led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Sinaloa is one of Mexico’s oldest and most influential drug trafficking groups. According to a report by the U.S. Army Intelligence section in Leavenworth, over a 6-year period, of the 250,000 soldiers in the Mexican Army, 150,000 deserted and went into the drug industry. ", "Mexico, the DEA, and the Case of Zhenli Ye Gon", "Cash From Marijuana Fuels Mexico's Drug War", "How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions", "A Look at Major Drug-Producing Countries", "Scarcity without Leviathan: The Violent Effects of Cocaine Supply Shortages in the Mexican drug war", "Trends in production, trafficking, and consumption of methamphetamine and cocaine in Mexico", "U.S. Beltran-Leyva Organization. In the vehicle, 12 grenades were found, possibly a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and two rifles, according to the Mexican Navy. [353], In May 2012 several journalist murders occurred in Veracruz. [50] One of the Fox's administration's strongest criticisms arose from its management of the peasant unrest in San Salvador Atenco. [389], U.S. authorities are reporting a spike in killings, kidnappings and home invasions connected to Mexico's cartels, and at least 19 Americans were killed in 2008. [54] Since Calderón launched his military strategy against organized crime, there was an alarming increase in violent deaths related to organized crime: more than 15,000 people died in suspected drug cartel attacks since it was launched at the end of 2006. Civil liberties groups, journalists, and others have criticized the Mexican government’s war with the cartels for years, accusing the military, police, and cartels of widespread human rights violations, including torture, extrajudicial killings, and forced disappearances. Within this centralized political structure, drug trafficking groups cultivated a wide network of corrupt officials through which they were able to gain distribution rights, market access, and protection. U.S. officials link the cartel to more than one-third of the drugs in the United States. There is suspicion that cartels have corrupted and infiltrated the military at a high level, influencing many generals and officers. [108], The U.S. State Department estimates that 90 percent of cocaine entering the United States is produced in Colombia[109] (followed by Bolivia and Peru)[110] and that the main transit route is through Mexico. In December 1997, a group of heavily armed Mexican special forces soldiers kidnapped twenty young men in Ocotlan, Jalisco, brutally torturing them and killing one. But the most infamous, … In the year 2000 Vicente Fox, from the right-wing PAN party, became the first Mexican president not to be from the PRI party (that ruled Mexico for 70 years); his presidency passed with relative peace, having a crime index not too different from that of previous administrations, and Mexican public opinion was mainly optimistic with the regime change, with Mexico even showing a general decline in homicide rates from 2000 to 2007. [141] However, the Guadalajara Cartel suffered a major blow in 1985 when the group's co-founder Rafael Caro Quintero was captured, and later convicted, for the murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. 2. [4], The Zetas are notorious for targeting civilians, including the mass murder of 72 migrants in the San Fernando massacre. "[265], As of 2011, Mexico's military captured 11,544 people who were believed to have been involved with the cartels and organized crime. Mexico's agony is ritually explained as a turf war between drug cartels. [according to whom?] (Experts estimate that between one-third and one-half of the homicides in Mexico are linked to cartels.). [306], The extreme violence is jeopardizing foreign investment in Mexico, and the Finance Minister, Agustín Carstens, said that the deteriorating security alone is reducing gross domestic product annually by 1% in Mexico, Latin America's second-largest economy. December 28, 2020. Alliances or agreements between drug cartels have been shown to be fragile, tense and temporary. [292] Casualties are often measured indirectly by estimated total deaths from organized crime in Mexico. Cartel: The Coming Invasion Of Mexico's Drug Wars. [380], The Mexican Army has severely curtailed the ability of the Mexican drug cartels to move cocaine inside the U.S. and Canada, prompting an upsurge in gang violence in Vancouver, where the cocaine price has increased from $23,300 to almost $39,000 per kilo as both the U.S. and Canadian drug markets are experiencing prolonged shortages of cocaine. [254][255] It has been established that this operation violated long-established ATF policies and practices and that it is not a recognized investigative technique. [223] Women citizens and foreigners, including migrants,[224] have been raped,[225][226] tortured,[227][228] and murdered in the conflict. The amount of fentanyl seized by Mexican authorities nearly quintupled between 2019 and 2020. [414] In June 2010, Calderón "announced strict limits on the amount in U.S. dollars that can be deposited or exchanged in banks",[414] but the proposed restrictions to financial institutions are facing tough opposition in the Mexican legislature. Sometimes the cartels force the migrants to join their organization and work for them. It is often not clear what deaths are part of the Mexican drug war versus general criminal homicides, and different sources give different estimates. [4], The Zetas involved themselves in more than drug trafficking and have also been connected to human trafficking, pipeline trafficked oil theft, extortion, and trading unlicensed CDs. The Mexican cartels acquire those firearms mainly in the southern states of Texas, Arizona and California. Backgrounder This action is regarded as the first major operation against organized crime, and became the starting point of the war between the government and the drug cartels. [239] Firearms that make their way to Mexico come from the American civilian market. ", "Mexico's new president has a radical plan to end the drug war", "Ya no hay guerra" contra el narco: la declaración de AMLO que desata polémica en México, "Mexico's President Declares an End to the Drug War", "Mexican president declares end to drug 'war, "AMLO advierte 'pobreza franciscana' en el gobierno si se requiere", "Mexico explosion: scores dead after burst pipeline ignites", "Mexico's President Vows To Crack Down On Thieves Stealing Gasoline", "Pemex reporta disminución de huachicoleo de 70 mil a 3 mil barriles por día en 2 meses", "Botched mission to capture El Chapo's son sparked by DC judge", "Misleading information released about events in Culiacán: ex-DEA official", "Enfrentamientos en Culiacán dejaron ocho muertos, entre ellos un civil: Sedena", "Suman 14 muertos por balaceras en Culiacán", "Y la entidad, con al menos 8,000 soldados, policías y de la GN", "Durante operativo en Culiacán, sicarios atacaron unidad habitacional militar", "How the Sinaloa Cartel Bested the Mexican Army", "El Chapo: Mexican president says police 'did right' to free drug lord's son", "Trabajamos para pacificar el país sin guerra, exterminios ni masacres, dice AMLO", "No vale más captura que vida de personas.-AMLO", "Soldados de luto, mexicanos divididos por la decisión de AMLO de liberar al hijo de 'El Chapo, "AMLO dice que sigue extradición contra Ovidio Guzmán, hijo de El Chapo", Analistas: declaración de AMLO sobre el fin de la guerra contra el narco no termina con la violencia ni con los cárteles. In May 2010 an NPR report collected allegations from dozens of sources, including U.S. and Mexican media, Mexican police officials, politicians, academics, and others, that Sinaloa Cartel had infiltrated and corrupted the Mexican federal government and the Mexican military by bribery and other means. Seizures and arrests have jumped since Calderón took office in December 2006, and Mexico has extradited more than 100 people wanted in the U.S.[citation needed], On July 10, 2008, the Mexican government announced plans to nearly double the size of its Federal Police force to reduce the role of the military in combating drug trafficking. On December 12, 2012, HSBC settled for a $1.93 billion fine. [383] In seeking partnership from the United States, Mexican officials point out that the illicit drug trade is a shared problem in need of a shared solution, and remark that most of the financing for the Mexican traffickers comes from American drug consumers. After Mexican traffickers smuggle wholesale shipments of drugs into the United States, local groups and street gangs manage retail-level distribution in cities throughout the country. The "Federation" was the result of a 2006 accord between several groups located in the Pacific state of Sinaloa. Creechan, James. [211][160] In 2019, the group was greatly weakened by infighting, arrests of senior operatives, and a war with the Sinaloa Cartel and its allies,[212], CJNG co-founder Érick Valencia Salazar (alias "El 85") and former high-ranking CJNG leader Enrique Sánchez Martínez (alias "El Cholo") had also departed from the CJNG and formed a rival cartel known as the Nueva Plaza Cartel. The Merida Initiative has evolved to reflect the priorities of national leaders. The European Union and the United Kingdom came to a last-minute trade deal on Christmas Eve, narrowly averting the hardest of all potential Brexits. [42] Estimates set the death toll above 120,000 killed by 2013, not including 27,000 missing. [284] The vehicle was found to contain a grenade launcher, 12 grenades, possibly a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and two rifles, according to the navy. According to Peter Dale Scott, the Guadalajara Cartel prospered largely because it enjoyed the protection of the Dirección Federal de Seguridad (DFS), under its chief Miguel Nazar Haro. [219], Women in the Mexican drug war have been participants and civilians. Americas. Colombia through the National Police of Colombia. and . [412][413][414], The U.S. DEA has identified the need to increase financial investigations relating to the movement of illegal drug funds to Mexico. … The Tijuana Cartel, also known as the Arellano Félix Organization, was once among Mexico's most powerful. On December 11, 2006, the newly elected President Felipe Calderón, from the PAN party, dispatched 6,500 Mexican Army soldiers to Michoacán, his home state, to end drug violence there. Some researchers have asserted that most weapons and arms trafficked into Mexico come from gun dealers in the United States. Only a year after the new coronavirus emerged, the first vaccines to protect against it are being administered. Through his connections, Félix Gallardo became the person at the forefront of the Medellín Cartel, which was run by Pablo Escobar. The birth of most Mexican drug cartels is traced to former Mexican Judicial Federal Police agent Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Spanish: El Padrino, lit. [273], In March 2009, President Calderón called in an additional 5,000 Mexican Army troops to Ciudad Juárez. Assessing President Trump’s Legacy of Cyber Confusion, Blog Post C.V. Starr & Co. Under the leadership of Heriberto Lazcano, the Zetas, numbering about 300, gradually set up their own independent drug, arms and human-trafficking networks. [366], The U.S. State Department says that the practice of forced labor in Mexico is larger in extent than forced prostitution. Recent Mexican administrations have responded to cartels primarily by deploying security forces, often spurring more violence: Felipe Calderon (2006–2012). by Robert McMahon By . Mexico Set to Legalize Marijuana, Becoming World’s Largest Market. As of October, 2010, the total loss of life in Mexico in this war ran to 27,903. Calderon’s successor said he would focus more on reducing violence against civilians and businesses than on removing the leaders of cartels. Recent efforts have centered on the Merida Initiative; since Presidents George W. Bush and Calderon launched the partnership [PDF] in 2007, the United States has appropriated more than $3 billion for it. [185], In recent times, Los Zetas have experienced severe fragmentation and seen its influence diminish. Originally a paramilitary enforcement arm for the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas was singled out by the DEA in 2007 as the country’s most “technologically advanced, sophisticated, and violent” group of its kind. [406][407], In October 2013, two former federal agents and an ex-CIA contractor told an American television network that CIA operatives were involved in the kidnapping and murder of DEA covert agent Enrique Camarena, because he was a threat to the agency's drug operations in Mexico. One of his campaign promises was a controversial "strategy for peace", that is to give amnesty to all Mexicans involved in drug production and trafficking as a way to stop the drug trade and the resulting turf violence. [364], There are documented links between the drug cartels and human trafficking for forced labor, forced prostitution, and rape. The police were conducting an operation against criminal groups and drug cartels in Apatzingán, including the Knights Templar Cartel, a suspect. Mexican drug cartels have increased their co-operation with U.S. street and prison gangs to expand their distribution networks within the U.S.[41] [256] Several of the guns sold under the Project Gunrunner were recovered from crime scenes in Arizona,[257] and at crime scenes throughout Mexico,[258] resulting in considerable controversy. In 1999, Gulf Cartel's leader, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, hired a group of 37 corrupt former elite military soldiers to work for him. The Mexican cartels are expanding their control over the distribution of these drugs in areas controlled by Colombian and Dominican criminal groups, and it is now believed they control most of the illegal drugs coming into the U.S.[275]. Guatemala has also arrested dozens of drug suspects and torched huge cannabis and poppy fields. In June 2007, President Calderón purged 284 federal police commanders from all 31 states and the Federal District.[112]. Six of the implicated officers had received U.S. training as part of the Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales (GAFE) training program. [356] For example, María Santos Gorrostieta Salazar, the former mayor of a town in western Mexico, who had survived three earlier assassination attempts and the murder of her husband, was abducted and beaten to death in November 2012. But 2015 saw an uptick, and by the end of his term, the number of homicides had risen to the highest level in modern Mexican history. The Juárez Cartel controls one of the primary transportation routes for billions of dollars' worth of illegal drug shipments annually entering the United States from Mexico. Religion and Foreign Policy Webinars/Conference Calls, most significant drug trafficking threats, technologically advanced, sophisticated, and violent, created dozens of smaller, more violent drug gangs.