It has full control of the west and lowlands of the country in states such as Jalisco, Colima, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Michoacán, and part of Zacatecas
Despite the arrest of its leaders and financial blows, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel, and Los Zetas, dispute the territorial control of the country, generating violence, in addition to representing a threat to the United States, according to a report of the US Congress.
According to the document Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations, prepared by the Investigative Service of the United States Congress, the CJNG have the greatest firepower and territorial expansion.
It has full control of the west and lowlands of the country in states such as Jalisco, Colima, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Michoacán, and part of Zacatecas.
According to the analysis, said cartel maintains alliances with remnants of organizations whose power has diminished, such as the Knights Templar and the Michoacan Family.
The CJNG controls two strategic ports for drug trafficking: Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas, where the largest shipments of fentanyl arrive from China and are transferred to the United States, the 34-page document of the US Congress refers.
For this reason, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel controls what has become the most lucrative business today: the production of synthetic drugs from fentanyl considered 50 times more powerful than heroin, as well as its trafficking and commercialization.
The large economic gains have allowed the CJNG its territorial, operational, and firepower expansion, even to challenge the Mexican State with the attack on Omar García Harfuch last June, as well as attacks on more than 200 Jalisco officials and the threat the high command of the country.
Specifically, it has a presence in 27 entities but in several, it maintains disputes with other cartels, the most important points in dispute being Mexico City, Cancun, and Tijuana.
In the north, the states of Baja California Sur, Baja California, Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Sonora, as well as Aguascalientes, are disputed with the Sinaloa Cartel.
With the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, they fight for Monterrey and Reynosa, parts of Zacatecas, as well as the states of San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Puebla, parts of Oaxaca and the Chiapas border with Guatemala.
In turn, in Mexico City there is a presence of the main cartels: Sinaloa, Jalisco, Zetas and Golfo.
THE CHAPO CARTEL
Regarding the Sinaloa Cartel, the analysis indicates that after the arrest and sentence of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, his sons: Ovidio, Iván and Alfredo have disputes for control of the organization with Ismael El Mayo Zambada.
And although internal disputes have fragmented Sinaloa, it still remains one of the main transnational drug trafficking organizations, mainly cocaine, because it continues to maintain strong political and social connections.
This cartel maintains control of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Sonora, and Nayarit, as well as disputes with the CJNG in Baja California Sur and Baja California, Mexico City, and Cancun.
The remnants of the Beltrán Leyva, Tijuana and Juárez organizations currently have alliances with Sinaloa.
The document indicates that in the case of the Beltrán Leyva, although they have lost power, they have used alliances with local groups to continue in the trafficking business, such as Guerreros Unidos, an organization that is accused of the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students in 2014.
In addition, another of the Beltrán Leyva cells, known as H2, which operated in Nayarit and was led by Juan Francisco Patrón, was linked to the former head of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), Salvador Cienfuegos, who is imprisoned in the United States for an open process of drug trafficking and money laundering.
In turn, although in March 2015, Monte Alejandro Rubido, head of the National Security Commission, affirmed that with the capture of Miguel Ángel Treviño, known as Z-42, the Los Zetas organization practically disappeared and was heading towards his extinction, the US report, dated July 2020, indicates that they remain active in several states of the country.
The Zetas, together with splits of the Gulf Cartel, control Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Hidalgo, parts of the State of Mexico, Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche and Michoacán.
GOVERNMENT FAILURE OF Q4
The report indicates that in the current administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador it has not been possible to consolidate a security policy to combat the power of the drug cartels or to reduce the violence they generate and the rate of intentional homicides.
Even, the document highlights, during the Covid 19 pandemic, organized crime groups advanced in their activities, while in other countries of the region they shuffled.
Among the successes in terms of security, they mention the support programs for young people to dissuade them from joining organized crime and the advances in the Ayotzinapa case.
Although López Obrador maintains a high popularity, the recession and effects on the health of Mexicans by the Covid, could cause that the reduction of violence in the short term does not fulfill its promise, the study warns.
Criminal panorama in Mexico
The report of the US Congress highlights that despite the pandemic, organized crime activities did not decrease
-It stands out that in June of this year the CDMX Police Chief, Omar García Harfuch suffered an attack, of which he accused the CJNG
.-In March 2020, Mexico experienced its most violent month, with 3,000 reported murder victims
.- Guanajuato was the most violent state in Mexico, in the first half of 2020, with brutal attacks on two drug addiction rehabilitation centers
-Forced disappearances of locals and foreigners in Mexico have also become a growing concern.
Source: 24-horas.mx
