Atrocities went un-reported, as did unfavorable economic news. As Diaz was being escorted away from Mexico City into exile, he reportedly said, "Madero has unleashed a tiger. A "femininization" of the migration trend has been taking place (Christian Science Monitor, 4/22/99). Today, the PRI Central Executive Committee still controls the party and the state. In the 1980s the Colombian drug cartels rose to power, and they needed a way to bring cocaine into the American market. The Colombian profits would take a dive, but they would be alleviated of some of the risks involved in the business. A Constitution was ratified in 1917, giving more political power to the central government, largely in an attempt to quell the violence. There are thought to be about 300 such entities at present, and they really have no other option but to run their cocaine and heroin through Mexico. organization for a year. Gente Nueva (English: New People), also known as Los Chapitos, in reference to their drug lord Joaqun Guzmn Loera, is a large group of well-trained and experienced gunmen that function as one of the elite armed wings of the Sinaloa Cartel, created to counter, battle and destroy the Jurez Cartel's influence in the Mexican north-west, as well as to battle and destroy La Lnea which is . They have survived changing markets and fluctuating political climates. Reuters, "Mexican Cardinal mourned amid questions about his death," 5/25/93, internet. 4. A inicios de agosto el gobierno mexicano anunci la captura del presunto lder del Crtel Santa Rosa de Lima, Jos Antonio Ypez Ortz, alias El "Marro", como una victoria sobre el narcotrfico y. Associated Press, "Border crackdown blamed for tension," 7/28/99, internet. Prominent Mexican news mogul Armando Sepulveda, has said that the media now enjoys "freedom of expression, but the press still does not know how to use it"(Associated Press, 10/31/00). Herrera is considered to be one of the most important producers The next President of Mexico was to be Ernesto Zedillo. All told, the drug trade remains a mega-billion dollar industry; $400 billion a year worldwide, with perhaps as much as $40 billion of that finding its way to Mexico each year, as has been noted above. He was also accused of obstructing efforts on the part of Mexican police to investigate the 1994 assassination of his brother, Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu. The Caribbean routes were used, but so were routes through Mexico. It involved our ground forces, also air support. AFP, "Mexico arrests 68 police, military officials on drug charges," 3/6/98, internet. The cartels bring billions of American dollars into Mexico. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 2000. In addition to the macro-economic implications, there were numerous political killings, and street crimes skyrocketed during the "coca-buck" pullout period. The DEA estimated that Those arrested, A number of human rights groups have become involved, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently issued a report that was critical of both governments. It was originally called the National Revolutionary Party and took its current name in 1946. How will the cartels respond to what appears to be a continuing decline in cocaine use in America? In Mexico, the same ZIP code can be assigned to several towns. United States General Accounting Office, Drug Control: Counternarcotics Efforts in Mexico. 6. The continued involvement of the Mexican military in the drug trade is particularly troublesome. General Rosso Jose Serrano, director of the Colombian National Police, said in 1997, that Carrillo Fuentes's Mexican organization was overpowering the Colombian drug organizations. We have located on the Internet several beautiful images of places and locations nearby, so you can see the beauty of this Mexican town. AFP, "Torture and disappearance routine in Mexico, Australian court told," 9/3/99, internet. Her testimony about the meeting is likely a major reason why the Army chose to investigate Mayor Enrquez Herrera years later, in 2020. Fuentes became a master at smuggling drugs not only with planes, but also with boats and trucks and people. A new economic crisis lies in Mexico's very immediate future, however. The public needs to be educated as to the true nature and impact of organized crime operations, and mobilized to action. Again, the September 1999 arrests by U.S. officials of 93 Juarez cartel associates mentioned previously, along with the loss of drug supplies and millions in currency will surely serve to weaken the Juarez cartel and further strengthen the Gulf Cartel and The Federation. Furthermore, immediately following Labastida's resignation as Interior Secretary (which enabled him to run in the PRI's November 1999 primary election), several trade unions and other groups linked to the PRI party publicly declared their support for him. The late September 1999 arrest by U.S. officials of 93 persons associated with this cartel, as well as the seizure of $25 million in cash and assets and the loss of 12.5 tons of cocaine and 2.1 tons of marijuana will surely set this cartel back. They have many operations in Mexico itself. million dollars at the beginning of the chain of illegal sale. Now let's see if he can control it." They currently represent a legitimate threat to the sovereignty of the Colombian government. In response, the Colombian government has launched "Plan Colombia," a $7.5 billion effort to take out the drug traffickers and restore order to this beleaguered nation. arrest and long-term incarceration of three key Chicago-based members of the It is one thing to sell to the Yankees and extract their dollars, but it is another thing entirely to tap into your own people. This paper examines the entities known generally as the Mexican drug cartels, explores the current state of political affairs in Mexico, and looks to the possible future activities of these organizations. Then, literally out of the blue, in late 1994 and early 1995, the Mexican peso was devaluated and Mexico faced a huge international financial crisis. It costs an average of $25,000 to clean up a meth production lab site. Interestingly, as 1994 dawned, two men stood in the way of Ernesto Zedillo attaining to the presidency - Luis Donald Colosio and Jose Francisco Massieu. The guy on crutches is Felipe Naranjo Seville. Hank Gonzalez is a former mayor of Mexico City and held two separate cabinet posts under former President Carlos Salinas. The U.S. National Drug Control Policy Director Barry McCaffrey visited Colombia during the summer of 2000, and committed to additional $500 million per year aid package, bringing the total U.S. government support of "Plan Colombia" to $1.3 billion. O'Day (2000) provides numerous case studies of Mexican military operating north of the border. Reuters, "Border task forces to be set up with Mexico," 12/3/97, internet. For a while, the Herrera's were running Colombian cocaine into the United States for the Medellin and then the Cali Cartels. Despite an abundance of evidence, no illegal or unethical activity was found to be present by an investigative panel of Mexican authorities. AFP, "Son of Puerto Rico's top cop among accused drug traffickers," 8/26/99, internet. Los Herrera in Estado de Durango - tripmondo.com El G1 had successfully managed the plazas of San Dimas, Pueblo Nuevo and Otaez in Durango for the brothers for the last couple of years, so in mid-2012 they decided to send him to Comarca Lagunera, a region marked in map below. I am ill today, so could search further so this helps, I will try and translate and post..@6:17 still looking for the vid and thank you, i did go into the DEA history archives and pulled good info about the organization, they are huge and good businessmen with longevity.I am posting it now as an add on, They once had 90% of the chicago heroin. AFP, "Mexico's PRD rejects PRI win in Tabasco, call for civil disobedience," 10/18/00, internet. Fuentes was very tight with Jorge Hank, Jr. Jorge Hank, Sr. is one of the most powerful men in the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the Mexican national party. Associated Press, "Mexico, EFTA reach trade agreement," 11/06/00, internet. In August of 1999, Mario Ruiz Massieu, former Deputy Attorney General and Mexico's top drug prosecutor was charged with laundering nearly $10 million drug-related dollars - he was indicated on a total of 25 counts. The figures will surpass 400 for the year 2000 (AFP, 9/27/00). Abadinsky, Howard, Organized Crime. It will be most difficult to wean the Self Defense Force from this new-found wealth, and they paradoxically loom on the horizon as a threat to the sovereign government of Colombia from the political right. The booming American economy has also spawned tens of thousands of low-paying service jobs that are readily and happily filled by migrants, anxious to seek a better life and/or to support struggling families back home. Newsweek, 3/10/97, p. 36. Its charge is not so much to stop the illegal immigrants, but to protect them and inform them of the dangers. His brother, El 02 took over control of the group and continued their drug smuggling operation. Jorge Hank Rhon, the younger of the two sons, lives in the northern border town of Tijuana and is a close associate of the Felix-Arellano brothers, the leaders of The Federation. meeting held at the request of ' El Mayo' Zambada, also Javier Torres Felix Fuentes was also expanding into methamphetamines and money laundering ventures at the time of his death. butttt I think it is more the powers that be above him which control the area. In the first pic there is a cop on the far right that looks like he has to take a piss, there is also a cop in crutches and two cops manning the 50 cals in tha back wow alotta shit goin on for one vato. External attempts to control the cartels will be ineffective unless they are supported by the populous, the body politic. and distributors of synthetic drugs, according to authorities. The family frequently smuggled heroin in their invention, Will this multinational initiative emerge as a truly effective and viable entity? Mexico also has another political institution in place that has historically protected PRI leadership and concomitantly provided a healthy climate for syndicates to grow and flourish. The certification process has allowed the PRI leadership to play one cartel against another and enrich itself. In September of 1994, PRI heir-apparent Jose Francisco Massieu was assassinated. With the prospect of delay, an elaborate system of bribery will be developed to facilitate the movement of legal commodities over the border swiftly, and this cost will increase the cost of doing business in America. It is estimated that ten percent of that wealth is used specifically for law enforcement, military and political pay-offs. Marijuana is grown year-round in Mexico and the army has literally tons of harvested marijuana at its disposal, and even oversees the production and crop security end of the process in some regions. Whether it be for the elections, opportunity or a shift in Mexico's government, as long as these guys continue to fall, it makes no difference. AFP, "Mexico frees alleged 'methamphetamine king' wanted in US," 5/19/99, internet. If the eradication of the cartels is the goal, our interdiction efforts can be classified as an utter failure. In the past few years, the Mexican military has become more and more aggressive in the border regions, shaking down ethnic Mexicans with impunity, regardless of citizenship and regardless of which side of the border they were on. No claims of illegal contributions made during the 2000 presidential campaign have been forthcoming as of yet. This matter is of grave concern to the PRI at present. From the standpoint of the business community, the need to move commodities in an expedient fashion is paramount, especially perishable goods which make up a significant portion of the Mexican-American trade. following information is in the DEA Historical website for the years to Mexico cartels: Which are the biggest and most powerful? On July 23, 1985, as a When all the invitees had gathered at the hospital, Mayor Enrquez Herrera introduced them to his friend, Gerardo Soberanes Ortiz, alias El G1. Of all the towns in the municipality, it occupies the number #4 in terms of number of inhabitants. The United States attempted to legislate itself out of the problem a decade ago. Gallardo has long been known for advocating cooperation between the cartels. When asked by Mexican officials to put a stop to this illegal arms trade, American officials have indicated that the demand for the weapons is on the Mexican end, so they, the Mexicans, should stop it - an interesting bit of international diplomatic hypocrisy that the United States can engage in, because at present it has the biggest stick. El G1 is infamous for allegedly "owning" the Senator of Durango, Jos Ramn Enrquez Herrera, whose political campaign he helped finance. Other high ranking government officials have also succumbed to the ready money offered by those with ties to the drug trade. In contrast, there are a significant number of investigative newspaper reporters in Mexico who seem willing to take on the cartels. Some of that embezzled money was also distributed as campaign contributions to several other PRI members, namely Renato Bega from Sinaloa, Eduardo Robledo from Chiapas, and more recent reports suggest that President Zedillo also accepted illegal contributions from Peniche. The report indicated that the average age of those who have consumed some type of stimulant at least once is between 10 and 12 years old. The Mexican Military - While not recognized for many years in the academic community, the Mexican military has been heavily involved in the marijuana trade for decades. The The Mexican cartels control perhaps 80 percent of the American meth trade, and appear to now be expanding operations into Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Anxious to make the sale and knowing that the money orders are legitimate (ie., the dealership will get its money), the financial paper is accepted and the car is sold. Meanwhile, in June 2020, El 01 was successfully, In February 2022, the highly-regarded news publication. In an address that, granted, on the one hand could be seen as nothing more than political rhetoric designed to attract the nation's Hispanic vote, but on the other hand is a refreshing voice in crime control dominated America, Texas Governor George W. Bush called upon officials on both sides of the border to build "monuments of faith." Alma Reyes Guerra chose to report what had happened and who was introduced at Mayor Enrquez Herreras meeting to the relevant authorities. He has continued to push this "NAFTA-plus" notion and the need to create a North American common market, and gives every indication that he intends to continue pursing this goal (Associated Press, 11/27/00). United Nations, "The world ministerial conference on organized transnational crime," Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, November 1995, 24 pp. it isn't hard to make meth. Those entities identified would be prohibited from doing business in the United States. (6) The plan was never able to be fully realized, for on July 4, 1997, Carrillo Fuentes died while undergoing plastic surgery. Carrillo Fuentes would eventually earn the nickname, "Lord of the Skies" for his diabolically brilliant ability to deliver literally tons of cocaine. Do you like Los Herrera? dont worry another meth maker will take overget puffed out, http://www.informador.com.mx/mexico/2012/357271/6/detienen-a-productor-de-metanfetaminas-del-cartel-del-pacifico.htm, yah i noe. The PRI, and thus the government, has simply been corrupted, and there is little interest or incentive within the PRI to come clean. He announced Jaime Herrera used two At around 7:00 am on Friday, January 20, 2023, Crescencio Sandoval, the head of the Army announced that an operation to capture an important Sinaloa Cartel - Los Cabreras figure was currently being carried out in Durango. Morris, S., Corruption and Politics in Contemporary Mexico, Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1991. The proposed goals are certainly laudable, and if achieved, would clearly have a dampening impact on the proliferation of transnational organized crime activities in this world, but are perhaps little more than the ravings of utopian visionaries. .The arrest of the alleged drug Recent court testimony has revealed how torture, kidnapping, and murder has been used regularly by the PRI to maintain control and generally crush dissident voices; a model similar to that used by Joseph Stalin decades ago (AFP, 9/3/99). Good job AMLO. Carrillo Fuentes was on top of the world. That time arrived in they year 2000 when then president Ernesto Zedillo stated that he would not participate in the process of designating his own successor; effectively amputating the finger (AFP, 2/27/99). A video of one of the helicopters taking off can be seen below. pounds of heroin, 13 pounds of cocaine, 47 properties, and $300,000. Though the Constitution of 1917 divided power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches, in practice the country is perhaps more accurately classified as an autocratic party-state system. AFP, "Mexico stops 130 illegal Chinese immigrants heading for US," 8/31/99, internet. In the first eight months of 1999, Mexican authorities had seized 850 tons of marijuana, 25 tons of cocaine and 1,500 pounds of opium base. The U.S. Attorney General has formally meet with the leadership of many Fortune 500 companies (Kodak, Hewlitt Packard, Sony, Ford, Philip Morris to name a few) in an attempt to put an end to the practice of willful blindness, in Colombia and elsewhere 8. the 'Ice'. This event was filmed by a television camera crew and elicited a significant outcry from the Mexican community (LaFranchi, 2000). 17. market, dam thats alot. While currently little more than a call for action, he seems determined to cobble together some type of unified Meso-American anti-drug initiative. There is a need for law enforcement coordination and cooperation throughout the international community. AFP, "Mexican president-elect defies IMF," 9/25/00, internet. 9. While there is no hard data, the generally accepted figure is that Mexico sees $40 billion a year from the drug trade (though it does not all come from the United States). While there are growing opposition voices calling for the removal of this traditional executive privilege and for the development of a legitimate multi-party system, at this writing Mexico can still be classified as a de-facto one-party system; a party-state system, with its accompanying twin - institutionalized corruption (Paternostro, 1995; UPI, 1/30/98). Nope just a typical Federal Government clean up to gain points for upcoming elections . The command of the I felt badly throwing the tiny bit of info up there this AM but that was all there was. Lucky for Enrquez Herrera, a generous benefactor was able to step in and lend him the money he needed to complete the project. All this information may have been passed on to the cartels. Mexican officials recently arrested 51 undocumented Chinese who were hidden in secret compartments of trucks headed for the United States (AFP, 2/27/98). 5. AFP, "Mexican drug ring bust yields 93 arrests," 9/22/99, internet. Criticism and finger-pointing has become commonplace on both sides of the Rio Grande. Drug use in Mexico has risen from an estimated 1.5 million users in 1988 to 2.5 million users in 1998, with the largest increase occurring among children (AFP, 7/4/99). Adding to the problem of rank-and-file officer corruption is an internalized and institutionalized mode of corruption within the police ranks. AFP, "Mexican opposition parties discuss on alliance," 5/25/99, internet. The Amezcua brothers have been buying ephedrine in every major producing country in the world including China, India, Germany and the Czech Republic. Chapter 8 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, with its many amendments, requires the President to annually inform Congress as to whether or not major drug producing and drug transit countries are cooperating with the United States in the drug war, or have taken adequate steps on their own to meet the goals of the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. The climate is an arid dry steppe, with very high temperatures in the summer and very little rainfall. In September of 2000, deputy commerce secretary Raul Ramos was found dead in a rural area outside Mexico City. Will the Mexican cartels be able to bring the vitality and adaptive capabilities into the 21st century that have allowed them to be so successful in the 20th? 9/27/00, internet. The whole notion makes little sense to the Mexican people who currently place this issue in the center of their political radar. The military has used these unique abilities to their advantage, and have largely stayed out of the cocaine and heroin business, though they do provide security for clandestine airstrips operated by cocaine and heroin traffickers. Reuters, "U.S. approves Mexican anti-drug efforts," 2/26/98, internet. Reuters, "U.S. deploying 1,000 guards to Mexican border," 3/10/98, internet.