SUMMARY
The Gulf Cartel is one of the major drug trafficking cartels in Mexico currently battling for control over territory and smuggling routes.
The cartel originates from the 1970s when the group, headed by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra, engaged in small-scale smuggling of alcohol through the Gulf of Mexico to the U.S. In the 1980s the group included cocaine and marijuana in their business and they rapidly expanded their activities along the Pacific coast. Under the leadership of Juan Garcia Abrego the Gulf cartel gained a reputation as being extremely violent as they eliminated rival groups threatening their territories, and in the 1990s the group grew into one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico, taking in on the then-dominant Juarez and Tijuana cartels. In 1996, Abrego was arrested and extradited to the U.S and internal power struggles followed. In 1999, Osiel Cardenas took control of the cartel, reinforced tits dominance and started battling the Sinaloa Cartel for areas of control in the Yucatan peninsula. Cardenas was imprisoned in 2003 but continued to rule the cartel until he was extradited to the U.S. in 2007, when Jorge Costilla-Sanchez took over.
The cartel has a decentralized structure and is made up of four sub-groups as well as numerous gangs loosely tied to the organisation. Los halcones (the falcons) are responsible for intelligence and information gathering, Las Ventanas (the windows) are hired to function as look-outs, Los Expertos (the experts) carry out technical intelligence operations such as telephone tapping, and Los Jefes (the bosses) are the main gatekeepers and used to control the armed wing, Los Zetas.
Los Zetas was previously the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel and was created in the middle of the 1990s by a group of deserters from the Mexican militarys Special Forces Airmobile Group (GAFES, Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales). As a consequence, this was the first time that a drug cartel controlled such a sophisticated and well-trained armed group. Los Zetas were loyal to Osiel Cardenas, but when he was transferred to the U.S, Los Zetas became more independent and eventually grew more powerful than the Gulf Cartel. In early 2010 Los Zetas officially split from the Gulf Cartel and started fighting their former allies.
The Gulf Cartel is based in Tamaulipas state and used to be dominant along most parts of the Gulf coast, before being pushed back by Los Zetas after the split in 2010. They have fought the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and the Yucatan peninsula, but also along the Pacific coast in the states of Jalisco, Michoacán and Guerrero.
The cartel has been flexible in its alliance structures and has formed links with once rival cartels on various occasions. In 2004, the leaders of the Gulf Cartel and Tijuana Cartel made an agreement in prison against their common enemy, the Sinaloa Cartel. However, the alliance broke down in 2005. Between May 2007 and May 2008 the Gulf Cartel had an agreement on splitting territory with the Sinaloa Cartel. When the deal collapsed, the fighting reached new levels. Since 2010 the major cartels have reportedly assembled in two loose alliances; the Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel on the one side, and the Juarez Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, Los Zetas and the Beltran Leyva Cartel on the other. However, the Gulf Cartel has continued to fight the Sinaloa Cartel in some states.
The heavy fighting between members of the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas cartel began in 2010 and has largely taken place in the Northeastern states of Mexico. Both the Gulf and Zetas cartels have solicited the support of other Mexican cartels in order to bolster their ranks in the Northeast.
The number of people involved in the Gulf Cartel is difficult to estimate, although police believe that the core personnel are fewer than 1000.
The Gulf Cartel has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
