According to the DEA, the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation now controls 23 of Mexico’s 32 states.
MEXICO (INFOBAE/DEA) – Clashes, executions, clandestine graves. The trail of violence that runs through much of Mexico is marked by the four letters CJNG, -Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion- the Jalisco Cartel New Generation, the most dangerous criminal organization in the country, which has sounded its heavy artillery in at least 23 states, according to the DEA.
Its leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, has so far successfully evaded federal laws. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, “El Mencho,” as he is known in Mexico’s underworld, has filled the void left by Joaquin Guzman Loera, “El Chapo,” following his extradition to the United States.
His advance and rapid rise are part of the strategy of violence he has imposed on the country. However, there is another reason for his expansion: the truces he has formed with local criminal groups.
A new report by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) warns that the CJNG is in a perverse alliance with other criminal organizations such as the Familia Michoacana, based in three states, the Gulf Cartel in 12, and the Guerreros Unidos in four.
The Familia Michoacana, which disputes control of drug trafficking in Michoacan, Mexico State, and Guerrero, expands its connections to Tierra Caliente. Meanwhile, with the Gulf Cartel, the Jalisco Cartel would enter the business in some northwestern states. Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, and Tamaulipas have not had much influence.
This criminal group, founded by Osiel Cardenas Guillen, concentrates its heroin and cocaine trafficking activities by transporting loads in the United States near McAllen and Brownsville, Texas.
Guerreros Unidos, a former splinter of the Beltran Leyva Cartel, is collaborating with the Four Letter Cartel, especially in transporting drugs into the United States. According to the DEA, this alliance has generated a high level of violence in the region.
The National Drug Threat Assessment 2020 analysis warns that the four-letter cartel maintains control in important drug corridors such as the border city of Tijuana, Baja California, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.
“The rapid expansion of the CJNG and its drug trafficking activities is characterized by the group’s willingness to engage in violent acts, confrontations with the Mexican government, security forces, and rival cartels,” reads the DEA dossier.
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes has been, in many ways, a mystery. Following his trial has not been easy. For a while, authorities believed he might be in the mountains, others that he is ill, almost convalescent, but that remains an enigma.
During the current administration, 629 criminal members of the CJNG have been arrested, compared to 245 criminal members of its bitter rival, the Sinaloa Cartel. According to the DEA specialists, most likely, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes’ cartel keeps growing due to AMLO’s lack of efforts to enforce the law against drug trafficking.
