The Mexican Cartel On A Global Scale

B. Restate thesis/ There has been a large increase in the smuggling of contraband, such as drugs, and firearms, into the U.S, and violence spilling onto our border cities due to the drug wars between the drug cartels in Mexico.

There are seven drug cartels in Mexico (CRS 1). The most important cartels are Sinaloa and Juarez. The Sinaloa cartel operates in the states of Nayarit, Sinaloa and Mexico State (Reforma 1). The Juarez cartel operates in Sinaloa, Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Morelos; and Quintana Roo. Mexican cartels employ individuals and groups of enforcers, known as sicarios. Statistics show that more than twenty people are killed daily in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua in crimes related to drugs. Drug lords send their gunmen to strategic places where innocent people that are in the wrong place at the wrong time are killed. Narco Lords like Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and Joaquin el Chapo Guzman, fight among themselves for the

The United States agency of drugs have discovered that for all of the illegal drugs consumed in the nation has been transported by the Mexican cartels. “U.S. federal officials say that the mexican cartels operate in dozens of U.S. cities and analysts say they are moving to consolidate their control of the entire supply chain of illegals drugs”(Schwartz, 1). The government of the United States have been conducting the investigation to now if the cartels are north. Many big cities today have a piece of the cartel organization working there and also producing drugs to distribute within the city. According to the investigation done by the DEA and U.N officials “Mexican cartels have established command - and - control centers to orchestrate cocaine shipments by sea and air along the still wild caribbean coast with the help of local authorities”(Booth, 2). All though that the cartel are moving to the United States they are still leaving command center in mexico to conduct shipments by ground or any other shipments overseas. The cartel is able to transport such quantities of drugs with help of the local authorities and other corrupt government officials.

Mexican drug cartels have been expanding its portfolios to include doing business in sex trafficking. The Zetas are the most feared drug cartel in Mexico’s drug, sex trafficking trade, and etc.; the Zetas are a criminal army made up of defectors from the Mexican military. Anybody who crosses them will more than likely get their heads chopped off or won’t live to see another day.

Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. “Mexico's gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in border towns where prostitution, drug use, bootlegging and extortion flourished” (Wagner). They keep themselves armed and ready with gun supplies shipped from the U.S, taking control of the drug trades. The violence is spilling so out of control that

Mexican Drug Cartels have been a problem for many years. The cartels are an organized crime organization and they don’t just deal drugs; they commit murders too. The Cartels origins are traced back to the Columbian Cali and Medellin mega-cartels who were responsible for the majority of drug trafficking into the United States. Crime has existed for many years but it surfaced more when Pablo Escobar was popular. Pablo Escobar was one the main transporters for cocaine throughout Mexico and the United States coming straight out of Columbia. Law enforcement tried to stop the drug trade but Escobar formed a relationship with Mexico-based traffickers who smuggled drugs into the United States. Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo also known as “The Godfather” of the cartels. Seeing how he established the Guadalajara Cartel, which is recognized as the first Mexican Cartel, and were the first to link up with Escobar and started the transportation of cocaine

At first, Mexican drug cartels were structured just like family owned businesses. There would be a family member who was the main drug lord and cousins and uncles of the family would be the body guards and drug dealers. After the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) lost their power within the Mexican government the structure of drug cartels became much more complex. A hierarchical diffusion is seen within the drug cartel system because the drugs spread from one important drug lord to another, and we generally see this happening in the urban part of Mexico, more than in the rural areas. A corporate structure began forming as hierarchies began developing under drug lords and more people got involved. Professor Guillermo Trejo of Notre Dame 's Kellogg Institute claims that once the PRI lost their power there was a rapid increase in violence. This is because of Mexico’s former President, Felipe Calderón, who politically associates with the National Action Party (PAN). In 2006 President Calderón declared war on the drug cartels. This milestone triggered a huge change within Mexico’s international relations, government, and culture.

Many critics are now making comparisons between the Mexican drug cartels, like the one mentioned above, and legitimate corporations like Netflix, or Google. There are currently seven major Mexican drug cartels. Although, the cartels may all come from different backgrounds and have different approaches towards trafficking drugs, they all share a similar business style structure to

A journal article written by Luis Astorga and David A. Shirk, dives head first into the Mexican

According to the U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center, drug cartels can be define as “…large, highly sophisticated organizations composed of multiple [Drug Trafficking Organizations] DTOs and cells with specific assignments such as drug transportation, security/enforcement, or money laundering” (2010). Also, it is mention within this national drug threat assessment that was done by the U.S. Department of Justice, that the “greatest drug trafficking threat” to the United States is “Mexico” (2010). With this been said one can understand that the roots majority of the criminal groups that operate domestically within the U.S. can be traced back to Mexico. So, in order to understand how this criminal organizations form

The most activity that these cartels do is around the United States and Mexican border by transporting illegal substances and even people and putting many people in danger not just in Mexico but in the United States. But also the economy is being hurt because the United States losing about one point six million dollars annually to these cartels contributing to smuggling and the U.S is number drug using country all around the world. While more and more smuggling is happening cartel kingpin for example Joaquin Guzman is getting more powerful and being the number one supplier to Chicago that most of these narcotics are being distributed. Statistics of that came from the DEA reports that cartel presence in the United States cities are getting bigger from the years of two-thousand-eight to twenty-eleven climbing the scale to twelve hundred on the number of reports from American communities that suspected narcotics presence. Making the struggle to make communities more secure but organizations that are not affiliated to the government are helping to get rid all this problematic situations with cartels such as the Chicago Crime

Since then the cartel violence have grown stronger and led to an estimated 40,000 deaths and several more people missing. (Hernandez 1) These mass murders are a cause of the government trying to intervene with the cartels operations. Some of the most notorious cartels in Mexico are, Los Zetas, El Cartel de Sinaloa, El Cartel del Golfo and La Familia Michoacána. However, ever since President Calderon’s war on drug cartels there have been many new smaller cartels created due to the cause of leaders being captured or killed. The fight for power and leadership between the cartel members have made several streets of Mexico a complete war zone full of gruesome murders and raining blood. The leader of El Cartel de Sinaloa, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is one of the most known and famous drug lord of Mexico. He is in the ranks of Pablo Escobar and John Gotti. According to Forbes Magazine El Chapo Guzman has an estimated net worth of one billion dollars in 2009 and estimated to grow over the next couple of year.(Dolia, Forbes 1) All the different cartels control the drug trade from different regions of Mexico, for example, El Cartel Del Golfo controls the region nearest The Gulf of

Recognized as one of the most fearless and violent cartels in all of Mexico, Los Zetas was brought forth by a need for personal security in the Gulf Cartel. This former hit man/security style operation, active since 1997, has since grown into its own ruthless and violent organization becoming the second most powerful cartel and easily the most feared in all of Mexico. Heavily trained and armed, members of Los Zetas are set apart from other cartels because of the level of brutality they are willing to administer to those who cross them, though they had initially hoped that by being more intimidating they would have to fight less. It is their command of the drug market, their lack of fear in using violent tactics, and the

The government has made some gains, but at a heavy price. A total of 34,612 people have died in drug-related killings in Mexico in the first four years (Siddique). Most of these killing are between cartel rivals fighting for the control of territories. There are five cartels operating in Mexico: the Sinaloa, the Gulf, Juarez, Tijuana, the Zetas. The major cartels are the Gulf, Sinaloa and Juarez (Cook 21). Many of these cartels have joined together forming powerful alliances known as the “Federation” (Cook 17). The cartels work together, but they remain independent organizations.

Drug cartels have grown and expanded throughout the interior and exterior of states for many years. The way drugs started to be introduced to Mexico, Colombia, and other places around the world was believed to be a myth. It was a tale that was known by many through storytelling, which over the years turned into an actual realistic issue. One of the most known cartels that existed for a long time was The Medellin Cartel. It became a subculture of its own, creating a world full of violence, women, money, firearms, death but most importantly power and fear. Located in Colombia this brutal subculture will show how they become one of the wealthiest subculture in the world surpassing even its own country’s riches.