Drugs and human trafficking are at the heart of Mexico’s raging violence

Published on: 08/10/2024 – 03:39Altered: 08/10/2024 – 03:37

4 minutes

Sheinbaum, the first woman to lead the Latin American nation, will unveil her strategy after being shocked by the murder and beheading of a mayor in Guerrero state just days after taking office.

Guerrero, located on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, is one of six of 32 states responsible for nearly half of the country’s homicides.

Cartel-related violence is concentrated in or along drug trafficking routes, borders and ports of entry for cocaine from Colombia and fentanyl ingredients from China, in addition to avocado and lime producing regions.

In these shifting frontlines, the country’s two main drug gangs – the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, which are among the most powerful criminal organizations in the world – wage ultra-violent battles and forcibly recruit members.

Sometimes rival factions within a cartel also go to war, as seen in recent weeks in the northwestern heart of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Where are the hotspots?

Instability has presented Sheinbaum with an immediate and enormous challenge.

In addition to the killing of Chilpancingo Mayor Alejandro Arcos on Sunday, a month of violence in Sinaloa has left more than 150 people dead, while a wave of killings has shaken the central state of Guanajuato.

The industrial center, about the size of Belgium, is home to multinational companies such as General Motors, Mazda and Honda.

Guanajuato is also the most violent state in the country.

The latest spike in bloodshed is due to a “counter-offensive” by the Sinaloa cartel and its allies against Jalisco New Generation, which dominates the region, security expert David Saucedo said.

Violence has also escalated in the state of Chiapas, located on Mexico’s southern border, which the think tank InSight Crime describes as “a major smuggling center for both drugs and migrants.”

There, the violence coincided with the Jalisco New Generation’s incursion into areas that were once Sinaloa Cartel strongholds, the report said.

In Guerrero, several gangs are fighting for control of routes used to bring drugs by sea.

In the north, border cities such as Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Reynosa are among the most dangerous in the world due to violence linked to drug and migrant smuggling into the United States.

What influence do cartels have?

According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels are “at the heart” of a synthetic drug crisis in the United States.

The two cartels are “global criminal enterprises” that source precursor chemicals from China, operate “clandestine laboratories” in Mexico and use their “extensive distribution networks to transport the drugs into the United States,” it said.

The highly lucrative fentanyl trade has augmented or even overshadowed the cartels’ traditional activities, such as cocaine trafficking from Colombia and poppy cultivation for heroin production.

Throughout their history, the gangs have been able to benefit from the corruption of security officials.

Genaro Garcia Luna, a former minister of public security, was convicted in the United States of receiving huge sums of money to enable the Sinaloa cartel to smuggle tons of cocaine.

The violence has also been fueled by the fragmentation of the cartels since former President Felipe Calderon deployed the military against cartels in 2006, with support from the United States.

What will Sheinbaum propose?

According to press leaks, Sheinbaum’s ‘100-day security strategy’ will target the country’s ten most dangerous cities, as well as Chiapas and criminals who extort lime producers.

The former mayor of Mexico City has pledged to strengthen the National Guard and intelligence services and improve coordination with police and prosecutors.

“Sheinbaum will likely be data-driven and technocratic in her approach to this difficult problem and will seek to improve police effectiveness,” Michael Shifter, an expert at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington, told AFP.

But according to security expert Carlos Perez Ricart, greater police or military deployment risks being undermined by the inaction of authorities supposed to ensure justice is served.

“We are facing a problem of security, but above all of justice,” he added.

© 2024 AFP