In 2006 Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched an attack campaign on drug trafficking and cartels. Now, twelve years later Mexico is still waging a very bloody drug war and there have been estimations that the cartels have been responsible for over 100,000 killings over the past twelve years including responsibility for the deaths of students, politicians, and journalists. The US has been involved and has given the Mexican Government approximately 2 billion dollars in funding to help fight the trafficking of drugs into the US.
The trafficking of heroin, cocaine, and meth from Mexico are the largest foreign supplies coming into the US. Most of the heroin and meth supplies coming into the US is coming from suppliers in Mexico, while the cocaine is coming from Columbia yet still being trafficked up through Mexico. As well as being the leading supplier of heroin the Mexican cartels have become the leading manufacturers and suppliers of the synthetic opioid fentanyl which is many times stronger than heroin and is leading to higher overdose percentages and the US seizure rate of fentanyl continues to go up as it is becoming more and more popular.
The Mexican Cartels are constantly changing and splintering off into new cartels and warring amongst each other for territories. The most influential Cartel has been the Sinaloa Cartel which was led by El Chapo Guzman from the 80's until his arrest in 2016. Sinaloa had the largest international impact over all other cartels. The Jalisco New Generation was a cartel that branched off from the Sinaloa cartel and it has proved that it is willing to be extremely violent against authorities and other cartels in order to expand its territory.
The Juarez cartel is the long-standing rival of the Sinaloa cartel and they control Chiuaua which is a very important state in Mexico for cartels because it borders New Mexico and Texas.
Throughout Felipe Calderon's six-year term as president, the war he waged by replacing a majority of the police force with military brought him results. The Mexican military working with US aid was able to capture 25 of the top 40 drug cartel jefes. Yet this all came with its own consequences, the takedown of these powerful cartel leaders led to around 70 new smaller drug trafficking cartels to be created. These smaller cartels were vicious in their ambitions to gain territory and would do whatever it would take to gain what they wanted. During his six years of presidency, there were around 50,000 drug war-related homicides.
The successor to Calderon is named Pena Nieto and he had a critic on Calderon's method of targeting the leaders of the cartels because of the fact that it was creating, even more, smaller cartels. In 2012 when Nieto took office he vowed to reduce the violence against civilians and businesses caused by the drug wars. Regardless of his promises, he has essentially continued using the same militant method as Calderon did. The year before Nieto took office was a historic year in Mexico with 27,000 homicides occurring. Nieto was successful his first few years in lowering homicide rates, but in 2016 when El Chapo was captured and extradited to the US, the Mexican homicide rate increased by 22 percent due to the territory wars that ensued. To this day Mexico is still waging an extremely violent war on drugs.
The trafficking of heroin, cocaine, and meth from Mexico are the largest foreign supplies coming into the US. Most of the heroin and meth supplies coming into the US is coming from suppliers in Mexico, while the cocaine is coming from Columbia yet still being trafficked up through Mexico. As well as being the leading supplier of heroin the Mexican cartels have become the leading manufacturers and suppliers of the synthetic opioid fentanyl which is many times stronger than heroin and is leading to higher overdose percentages and the US seizure rate of fentanyl continues to go up as it is becoming more and more popular.
The Mexican Cartels are constantly changing and splintering off into new cartels and warring amongst each other for territories. The most influential Cartel has been the Sinaloa Cartel which was led by El Chapo Guzman from the 80's until his arrest in 2016. Sinaloa had the largest international impact over all other cartels. The Jalisco New Generation was a cartel that branched off from the Sinaloa cartel and it has proved that it is willing to be extremely violent against authorities and other cartels in order to expand its territory.
The Juarez cartel is the long-standing rival of the Sinaloa cartel and they control Chiuaua which is a very important state in Mexico for cartels because it borders New Mexico and Texas.
Throughout Felipe Calderon's six-year term as president, the war he waged by replacing a majority of the police force with military brought him results. The Mexican military working with US aid was able to capture 25 of the top 40 drug cartel jefes. Yet this all came with its own consequences, the takedown of these powerful cartel leaders led to around 70 new smaller drug trafficking cartels to be created. These smaller cartels were vicious in their ambitions to gain territory and would do whatever it would take to gain what they wanted. During his six years of presidency, there were around 50,000 drug war-related homicides.
The successor to Calderon is named Pena Nieto and he had a critic on Calderon's method of targeting the leaders of the cartels because of the fact that it was creating, even more, smaller cartels. In 2012 when Nieto took office he vowed to reduce the violence against civilians and businesses caused by the drug wars. Regardless of his promises, he has essentially continued using the same militant method as Calderon did. The year before Nieto took office was a historic year in Mexico with 27,000 homicides occurring. Nieto was successful his first few years in lowering homicide rates, but in 2016 when El Chapo was captured and extradited to the US, the Mexican homicide rate increased by 22 percent due to the territory wars that ensued. To this day Mexico is still waging an extremely violent war on drugs.
Sources
“Mexican Drug War.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War.
Mínehan, Edith Beltrán. “Research Guides: Mexico's Mass Disappearances and the Drug War (Ayotzinapa: The Missing 43 Students): Drug War Timeline 1930-2015.” Drug War Timeline 1930-2015 - Mexico's Mass Disappearances and the Drug War (Ayotzinapa: The Missing 43 Students) - Research Guides at University of Wisconsin-Madison, researchguides.library.wisc.edu/c.php?g=560513&p=3904772.
Noel, Andrea. “Massacres, Drugs, and Money: Mexico's Disastrous Drug-War Decade.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 17 Dec. 2016, www.thedailybeast.com/massacres-drugs-and-money-mexicos-disastrous-drug-war-decade.
Noel, Andrea. “Where Mexico's Drug War Was Born: A Timeline of the Security Crisis in Michoacan.” VICE News, VICE, 12 Mar. 2015, news.vice.com/article/where-mexicos-drug-war-was-born-a-timeline-of-the-security-crisis-in-michoacan.
Mínehan, Edith Beltrán. “Research Guides: Mexico's Mass Disappearances and the Drug War (Ayotzinapa: The Missing 43 Students): Drug War Timeline 1930-2015.” Drug War Timeline 1930-2015 - Mexico's Mass Disappearances and the Drug War (Ayotzinapa: The Missing 43 Students) - Research Guides at University of Wisconsin-Madison, researchguides.library.wisc.edu/c.php?g=560513&p=3904772.
Noel, Andrea. “Massacres, Drugs, and Money: Mexico's Disastrous Drug-War Decade.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 17 Dec. 2016, www.thedailybeast.com/massacres-drugs-and-money-mexicos-disastrous-drug-war-decade.
Noel, Andrea. “Where Mexico's Drug War Was Born: A Timeline of the Security Crisis in Michoacan.” VICE News, VICE, 12 Mar. 2015, news.vice.com/article/where-mexicos-drug-war-was-born-a-timeline-of-the-security-crisis-in-michoacan.