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Spectator
6 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Can Trump take down the cartels?
In December 1989, the United States invaded Panama. The objective was Manuel Noriega, a pineapple-faced general who'd risen to power in a coup d'etat and turned his small, Central American country into a pit stop for Pablo Escobar's cocaine moving north. Noriega fled to the Vatican Embassy, where the US Army blasted heavy metal music until the opera-loving despot surrendered. The invasion of Panama took place when the war on drugs – at that time, crack cocaine – was a priority for the US government under George Bush Snr. Now, with the deadly opioid crisis and immigration on top of the agenda, Donald Trump might be treading in those footsteps. The commander-in-chief has signed an executive order greenlighting military action against Latin American mobs his administration has branded as terrorists, akin to Isis or al-Qaeda: several Mexican drug mafias, notably the Jalisco and Sinaloa; Venezuela's vicious Tren de Aragua gang and the Cartel of the Suns, a cabal of coke-dealing generals; and the tattooed gangbangers of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). While observers and insiders are sure something as drastic as Panama is unlikely, it's still unclear what Trump is trying to accomplish. 'It's very difficult to make predictions when it comes to Trump,' noted Phil Gunson, senior analyst for Crisis Group. 'However, full-scale military intervention is unimaginable, and any action would no doubt be limited to special forces or – more likely – some form of bombardment, probably using drones.' In this reinvigorated war on drugs, the primary targets will likely be the Mexican cartels responsible for the deluge of fentanyl pouring over the southern border. For years now the Republicans have been calling to send in the troops, and Trump himself has reportedly pondered the possibilities, from a naval blockade to dispatching commando kill squads to liquidate narco warlords. Since Trump's return to the White House, the CIA has been flying spy drones over Mexico, perhaps laying the groundwork for a strike. 'It would probably be drone strikes rather than boots on the ground, but that could invite boots on the ground later, especially if the cartels decide to respond in kind,' says Sanho Tree of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. 'The Zetas [cartel] would murder their rivals and hang their bodies from bridges with signs saying 'this is what happens if you oppose us.' Imagine if the cartels started doing that with the thousands of US nationals – expats, retirees, corporate executives or embassy officials – that are in Mexico. Jimmy Carter lost his election in 1980 because of the 50 plus American hostages in Tehran. Imagine if they took hostages in Mexico and started sending back a finger or a limb each week.' This won't be the first time Trump has let loose the dogs of war on drug peddlers, blowing apart the Taliban's heroin labs with warplanes in his first term. And yet, two decades of occupation failed to dislodge Afghanistan as the number one smack producer in the world. 'They're using a military solution to an economic problem,' said Tree. 'If you're fighting terrorists, they have a political objective and a command structure so they can order their footsoldiers to stand down and lay down their weapons. If you apply this strategy to drug cartels, you're actually making the drugs more valuable. You're amplifying the motivational feedback loop of the people you're trying to stop. So the question becomes then not if you're going to continue making money smuggling drugs, but how much money are you going to make? There's no command structure of the international drug economy that says OK everyone, surrender now, we've had enough.' The potential for collateral damage is high. Tree pointed to US-sponsored counternarcotics efforts in Peru, where the army shot down suspected narco planes in the jungle. That practice ended after the Peruvians accidentally downed an aircraft carrying an American missionary and her daughter. Then there's Mexico's fierce patriotism to consider. One origin story for the word 'gringo', as Mexicans call Yanks, dates back to the 1846-48 Mexican-American war, when American soldiers marched past crowds of Mexicans on the street chanting 'green, go home!' 'Mexican nationalism is largely defined in opposition to its powerful northern neighbour,' explained Gunson. 'The Mexican government has made it clear that it would never give permission for any form of military action by the US on Mexican soil. If Trump were to go ahead despite Mexico's refusal it would bring about the most severe crisis in US-Mexican relations in living memory, with repercussions throughout the region and beyond.' Another possibility is striking Mexican cartels' affiliates in third countries such as Ecuador, where Blackwater chief Erik Prince has been spotted tagging along on drug busts. The situation with Venezuela is somewhat different. The US has directly accused Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro of running drugs through the Cartel of the Suns, and the Tren de Aragua gang of carrying out hits on his behalf, such as the murder of dissident Ronald Ojeda in Chile. 'There are two competing foreign policy factions wrangling over Venezuela within the Trump administration,' Gunson explained. 'The faction led by Marco Rubio favours 'maximum pressure' to force Maduro from power, while that led by special envoy Ric Grenell is focused on extracting advantages for the US regardless of who is in power in Caracas. Trump is much closer to the Grenell line, and much of the rhetoric about Maduro's alleged links to drug trafficking and terrorism is designed to enable the hardliners to keep their constituents happy, rather than indicating any genuine intention to move against the Venezuelan government. While the Maduro government is indeed corrupt and there are high-ranking Venezuelan officials linked to organised crime, the allegations themselves are overblown.' For now, however, the criminals are not too concerned. 'I don't think so about Trump invading Mexico,' said a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel. 'Is not so easy as he says.'
Boston Globe
10-08-2025
- Boston Globe
These are drug cartels designated as terrorists by the US
Sinaloa Cartel Based in Sinaloa state, in western Mexico Founded more than 30 years ago by Joaquin Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as El Chapo, and Ismael Zambada García, a boss known as El Mayo, the Sinaloa Cartel has long stood as one of the world's most formidable criminal syndicates. Coordinating an umbrella of criminal cells — not only from Sinaloa state but also from across Mexico, with partners, associates, and operatives around the world — the cartel has become a leading producer of fentanyl, the opioid that has had a devastating effect in the United States. Advertisement But after years evading capture, El Chapo is now serving a life sentence in the United States, and last year, one of his sons abducted Zambada, handing him to US authorities. That set off a war within the cartel — now taking place as the Mexican government, pushed by the Trump administration, is aggressively cracking down on the group. Advertisement Still, the cartel has found ways to adapt and continues to smuggle fentanyl and other drugs into the United States, illustrating how difficult it would be to uproot its network. Jalisco New Generation Cartel Based in Jalisco state, in western Mexico The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, long an archrival to the Sinaloa Cartel, now looks poised to become one of the world's largest drug traffickers through an alliance with a Sinaloa faction controlled by El Chapo's sons. The Jalisco cartel has entrenched itself in large parts of the illegal and legal sectors of Mexico's economy, profiting off not just drugs and weapons but also real estate, avocados, and timeshares. The group has a well-developed network across the Americas, with links into Australia, China, and Southeast Asia, according to the US State Department. Like its competitors, the gang has used brazen acts of violence to maintain control. The group is believed to be linked to the 2020 assassination of the former governor of the state of Jalisco, as well as a training and recruitment camp discovered in the state this year. Cartel del Noreste Based in Nuevo Leon state, in northeastern Mexico The Cartel del Noreste began as the Zetas, violent enforcers of another group. In the early 2000s, the Zetas gained prominence by using violence to send public messages, and by 2012 controlled large swaths of territory. Internal rivalries and the killing of its leader by the Mexican Marines in 2012 appeared to weaken the Zetas. But a splinter of the gang reemerged as Cartel del Noreste, which operated across both sides of the border, trafficking drugs, weapons, and migrants across the border for enormous profits. Advertisement Tren de Aragua Originated in Venezuela From a prison in a northern Venezuelan state, Tren de Aragua's network and influence has spread to other parts of Latin America, and the group has become known for exploiting vulnerable migrants through trafficking and kidnapping. The Biden administration labeled the gang a transnational criminal organization in 2024, and in the United States, people accused of affiliations with it have been charged with crimes such as shootings and human trafficking, mostly targeting members of the Venezuelan community. The Trump administration has made the gang a focus of its deportation efforts and rhetoric, which Venezuelan asylum-seekers say casts an atmosphere of suspicion and stigma over those fleeing violence and political repression. The group has been said to work with another organization, the Cartel de los Soles, that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro. However, experts say little is known about such a group, and Venezuela's defense minister dismissed it Friday as an 'invention' by the US government. MS-13 Linked to El Salvador MS-13 emerged on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1980s as a criminal network among immigrants from El Salvador and has shifted its power base to Central America. The group was the first criminal street gang designated as a transnational criminal organization by the US Treasury Department in 2012. It was among the gangs that created chaos and violence in El Salvador for many years, until President Nayib Bukele cracked down on criminal groups through a campaign of mass arrests starting in 2022. The group was a primary target of Trump during his first term, and officials in his second term have continued to prosecute cases. But Bukele has also helped Trump's deportation efforts, for which the United States has paid El Salvador millions of dollars, adding an important sweetener at Bukele's request: the return of key MS-13 leaders in US custody. Advertisement US prosecutors have amassed substantial evidence of a corrupt pact between the Salvadoran government and some high-ranking MS-13 leaders, who they say agreed to drive down violence and bolster Bukele politically. Bukele has denied the existence of such a pact. Gulf Cartel Based in Tamaulipas state, in northern Mexico One of the oldest criminal organizations in Mexico, the gang for years made much of its money and reputation from smuggling cocaine and marijuana across the US border. In the early 2000s, it was one of three main groups behind Mexico's gang wars. Fighting between the Gulf Cartel and their onetime enforcers, the Zetas, turned parts of the region into a battle zone, sending thousands fleeing. In 2012, Mexico celebrated the arrest of the gang's top leader, but his detention, and that of other Gulf Cartel members, created a vacuum that was quickly filled by other leaders. La Nueva Familia Michoacana Based in Michoacán state, in western Mexico La Nueva Familia Michoacana rapidly rose to power in Mexico's crowded drug wars. In their home state of Michoacán, the group made much of its money through kidnapping and extortion. As their control spread, they employed bloodier tactics to enforce their power, sometimes attaching notes to the bodies of beheaded victims. Last year, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the group's leaders as part of an operation to target fentanyl trafficking in the United States. In April, US prosecutors charged senior members of the gang with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
San Francisco Chronicle
10-06-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mexico's security chief says drug cartels are recruiting former Colombian soldiers
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's most powerful drug cartels are recruiting former Colombian soldiers, prompting Mexican authorities to turn away dozens of Colombians trying to enter the country in recent weeks, Mexico's security chief said Tuesday. Through contact with Colombian authorities, García Harfuch said that nine of the 12 individuals were former soldiers and the remaining three were civilians with weapons training. Close underworld ties have long existed between organized crime groups in Mexico and Colombia. For many years, Colombian drug traffickers produced cocaine and heroin and moved it themselves by boat or plane to the United States. Later, as U.S. authorities cracked down on trafficking in the Caribbean, Mexican cartels' power grew as they moved Colombian drugs over land and via small plane to the U.S. border and smuggled them across. Decades of internal conflict in Colombia have produced tens of thousands of former soldiers, paramilitaries and guerrillas with weapons training and combat experience. Colombians have been hired guns in the 2021 assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse and in the ongoing war in Ukraine. In recent weeks, Mexican immigration authorities rejected 69 Colombians trying to enter Mexico, some of whom in interviews said 'they had been coopted by some criminal group.' García Harfuch said Tuesday that both the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels were recruiting Colombians. Colombia's ambassador to Mexico, Fernando García, said last week that he feared the arrests would negatively impact ongoing negotiations with Mexico to reduce the number of Colombians prevented from entering the country at Mexican airports. In March, the Colombian government had said that talks with Mexico were progressing with mechanisms for Mexico and Colombia to verify information about those seeking to enter Mexico. In October 2023, Mexican authorities arrested eight Colombians also in Michoacan state, who allegedly were helping to make explosives dropped by cartel drones. Former soldiers from other countries have worked with Mexican cartels too. More than a decade ago, the fearsome Zetas, whose leaders came from Mexico's military, recruited former members of Guatemala's special forces Kaibiles in their ranks.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mexico's security chief says drug cartels are recruiting former Colombian soldiers
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's most powerful drug cartels are recruiting former Colombian soldiers, prompting Mexican authorities to turn away dozens of Colombians trying to enter the country in recent weeks, Mexico's security chief said Tuesday. Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch's comments followed the arrest last week of 12 Colombians in the western state of Michoacan in connection with a mine attack that killed eight Mexican soldiers. Through contact with Colombian authorities, García Harfuch said that nine of the 12 individuals were former soldiers and the remaining three were civilians with weapons training. Close underworld ties have long existed between organized crime groups in Mexico and Colombia. For many years, Colombian drug traffickers produced cocaine and heroin and moved it themselves by boat or plane to the United States. Later, as U.S. authorities cracked down on trafficking in the Caribbean, Mexican cartels' power grew as they moved Colombian drugs over land and via small plane to the U.S. border and smuggled them across. Decades of internal conflict in Colombia have produced tens of thousands of former soldiers, paramilitaries and guerrillas with weapons training and combat experience. Colombians have been hired guns in the 2021 assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse and in the ongoing war in Ukraine. In recent weeks, Mexican immigration authorities rejected 69 Colombians trying to enter Mexico, some of whom in interviews said 'they had been coopted by some criminal group.' García Harfuch said Tuesday that both the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels were recruiting Colombians. Colombia's ambassador to Mexico, Fernando García, said last week that he feared the arrests would negatively impact ongoing negotiations with Mexico to reduce the number of Colombians prevented from entering the country at Mexican airports. In March, the Colombian government had said that talks with Mexico were progressing with mechanisms for Mexico and Colombia to verify information about those seeking to enter Mexico. In October 2023, Mexican authorities arrested eight Colombians also in Michoacan state, who allegedly were helping to make explosives dropped by cartel drones. Former soldiers from other countries have worked with Mexican cartels too. More than a decade ago, the fearsome Zetas, whose leaders came from Mexico's military, recruited former members of Guatemala's special forces Kaibiles in their ranks. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
10-06-2025
- Politics
Mexico's security chief says drug cartels are recruiting former Colombian soldiers
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's most powerful drug cartels are recruiting former Colombian soldiers, prompting Mexican authorities to turn away dozens of Colombians trying to enter the country in recent weeks, Mexico's security chief said Tuesday. Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch's comments followed the arrest last week of 12 Colombians in the western state of Michoacan in connection with a mine attack that killed eight Mexican soldiers. Through contact with Colombian authorities, García Harfuch said that nine of the 12 individuals were former soldiers and the remaining three were civilians with weapons training. Close underworld ties have long existed between organized crime groups in Mexico and Colombia. For many years, Colombian drug traffickers produced cocaine and heroin and moved it themselves by boat or plane to the United States. Later, as U.S. authorities cracked down on trafficking in the Caribbean, Mexican cartels' power grew as they moved Colombian drugs over land and via small plane to the U.S. border and smuggled them across. Decades of internal conflict in Colombia have produced tens of thousands of former soldiers, paramilitaries and guerrillas with weapons training and combat experience. Colombians have been hired guns in the 2021 assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse and in the ongoing war in Ukraine. In recent weeks, Mexican immigration authorities rejected 69 Colombians trying to enter Mexico, some of whom in interviews said 'they had been coopted by some criminal group.' García Harfuch said Tuesday that both the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels were recruiting Colombians. Colombia's ambassador to Mexico, Fernando García, said last week that he feared the arrests would negatively impact ongoing negotiations with Mexico to reduce the number of Colombians prevented from entering the country at Mexican airports. In March, the Colombian government had said that talks with Mexico were progressing with mechanisms for Mexico and Colombia to verify information about those seeking to enter Mexico. In October 2023, Mexican authorities arrested eight Colombians also in Michoacan state, who allegedly were helping to make explosives dropped by cartel drones. Former soldiers from other countries have worked with Mexican cartels too. More than a decade ago, the fearsome Zetas, whose leaders came from Mexico's military, recruited former members of Guatemala's special forces Kaibiles in their ranks.
