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Mexico AG: Only Two Cartels and Three Drug Lords Left in Mexico

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Tue Jun 09, 2015 at 08:29:22 PM EST
Tags: war on drugs (all tags)
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The XXXII International Conference for Drug Control in Cartagena, Colombia, has wrapped up. Tomás Zerón, the head of the Mexico Attorney General's Criminal Investigation Agency, who attended the conference, tells Proceso (use google translate) that there are only two drug cartels and three drug lords left in Mexico: Sinaloa, led by Ismael Zambada-Garcia and Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, and CJNG (Jalisco New Generation)led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. He said Sinaloa deals primarily in cocaine, while CJNG concentrates on meth. He also said Zambada-Garcia doesn't seem too active these days.

Zerón said the Zetas disintegrated, and the Gulf Cartel turned to kidnapping and extortion instead of drugs because it lacks the financing and contacts to obtain drugs. According to Zerón, the Juarez, Tijuana, Beltran Leyva and Knights of Templar cartels have dismantled, due to the death or detention of their leaders (more here), and now are operating as independent cells. [More...]

The DEA recently said the wealthiest cartels now are CJNG and Los Cuinis and that neither focus on the U.S. market.

"The Cuini focused on partnering with drug traffickers and narco-insurgents of Colombia and other South American countries to sell cocaine and other drugs in Europe, without being involved with the market of the United States. That made a big difference in terms of profits earned, "said the official.

According to official documents reviewed by Proceso for this report, Los Cuinis and CJNG for almost a decade chose not to mess with the US market.

Another market that's slowed down -- marijuana exporting from Mexico -- widely believed to be due to the legalization of pot in some form in 23 states.

In the past, only a sixth of cannabis consumed in the U.S. was grown within the 50 states; today that’s up to at least one-third, according to the United Nations. Pot from Colorado and California has started to displace the low-grade stuff that’s long flowed in by truck, tunnel, human mule, and boat from Mexico. Marijuana seizures by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at California border crossings totaled 132,075 pounds in fiscal 2014, half of the amount five years earlier.

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    Mexico AG: Only Two Cartels and Three Drug Lords Left in Mexico | 3 comments (3 topical)

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    Can confirm... (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by kdog on Thu Jun 11, 2015 at 08:31:28 AM EST
    on the reefer, can't even recall the last time I smoked Mexican brick weed (and I was just passed my share of random joints up at Mountain Jam, it was like a taste test up on the mountain!).  

    It's almost all high quality domestic and the prices just keep on dropping.  Be proud America, be proud.

    Welcome back kdog, (none / 0) (#3)
    by fishcamp on Thu Jun 11, 2015 at 08:45:19 AM EST
    your presence has been missed.

    Parent
    Not sure (none / 0) (#1)
    by bmaz on Tue Jun 09, 2015 at 09:29:06 PM EST
    That Arellano-Felix/Tijuana is quite as dead as they let on.

    Mexico AG: Only Two Cartels and Three Drug Lords Left in Mexico | 3 comments (3 topical)

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